Eight positive cased have halted production.
The Toyotetsu Plant in Simcoe, Ont is on hold.
The pandemic’s effects are still very real. If a chip shortage doesn’t stop production, then an outbreak such as this can and will. In this case, it’s a major supplier for three of Toyota’s Canadian assembly lines that are dealing with multiple positive Covid cases. This has prompted Toyota to be extremely cautious and pause assembly lines.
“Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has paused production at our North (Cambridge), South (Cambridge), and West (Woodstock) facilities today,” Toyota Canada spokesman Michael Bouliane said in a statement to Automotive News Canada on Thursday. “We are monitoring the situation closely and will advise our production employees once the parts supply issue has been resolved.”
Toyotetsu employs about 1,200 people and they report that most of the positive cases are not linked to on-site transmissions. At the moment, there’s no clear timeline for getting back to business.
The timing could not be worse as deliveries of the extremely popular Toyota RAV4 have surged so far this year. This compact SUV is one of the best-selling vehicles on the continent, behind only full-size pickups.