Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 3: Toyota announced on Thursday that it would shut down its only manufacturing in Russia and stop delivering automobiles there, blaming ‘supply chain interruptions’ caused by Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
The world’s best-selling automaker claimed its facility in Saint Petersburg produced roughly 80,000 vehicles last year, primarily for the Russian market and accounting for a small portion of the Japanese group’s global production of 10.5 million vehicles.
The company in a statement said, “Toyota Motor Russia will stop production at its Saint Petersburg plant from 4 March and has stopped imports of vehicles, until further notice, due to supply chain disruptions.”
A Toyota spokesperson told AFP that the Saint Petersburg facility employs roughly 2,600 employees, and that the supply disruption was caused by the conflict.
Although Toyota has no manufacturing in Ukraine, the company stated sales operations have been halted since February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin started an air and ground assault on the neighbouring country.
“Toyota is watching the ongoing developments in Ukraine with great concern for the safety of people of Ukraine and hopes for a safe return to peace as soon as possible,” it said.
“Our priority in dealing with this crisis is to ensure the safety of all our team members, retailer staff, and supply chain partners.”
