It seems that Toyota Motor’s announcement on 10th July 2008, which said that production lines at three plants for truck engines would be shut down from early August until November, was just the start of a steady downturn that would affect many other sectors.
In 2001, when Hino Motors came under the Toyota Motor wing, the Toyota Group enjoyed a vigorous take off. In 2002, the number of units produced by the group stood at 6.31 million, and by 2007 that figure had rocketed to 9.49 million – an annual increase in production of 600,000 units.
The group had predicted production exceeding 10 million for 2007, and had therefore made the necessary arrangements for an increase in production.
When hit with a slump in demand as a result of the global economic crisis, the group was forced to take drastic measures to secure its survival, having to revise the total number of vehicles it produced, and therefore taking the decision to decrease production in Japan by 15%.
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