TOKYO – Toyota Motor posted another drop in global sales, hit by Middle East disruptions and tough competition in China that pushed the world’s top-selling automaker into a fourth straight month of declines.
Global sales in May, including those of subsidiary Daihatsu Motor, fell 7.4 per cent from a year earlier to 885,207 units, the Japanese auto manufacturer said on June 29. Production declined 5.8 per cent to 857,765 units.
Despite the United States and Iran deal to end the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz is only gradually reopening with attacks on vessels still flaring, underscoring how Toyota and other global automakers remain dependent on the region’s logistics corridors and energy-dependent supply chains. For Toyota, which has dominated global volumes, the disruptions, along with aggressive local EV competition in China, threaten to erode the record profits it posted over the past fiscal year.
At Toyota’s earnings announcement in May, accounting chief Takanori Azuma said the manufacturer exports roughly 500,000 to 600,000 vehicles annually to the Middle East, and that it was assuming slightly less than half of that volume would be affected.
Toyota’s sales in the Middle East remained sluggish, with sales down 38.6 per cent in May. They fell 31.7 per cent in China from a year earlier.
Toyota has forecast a profit decline for the fiscal year through March 2027 as it braces for higher raw material costs due to the disruptions. The outlook for three trillion yen (S$24 billion) in operating income fell short of analyst estimates, as well as the 3.8 trillion yen posted in the prior 12-month period. BLOOMBERG
