Toyota is the next automaker to stop its production in Japan. Moreover, a cyberattack is supposedly the cause of the domestic shutdown. One of the biggest automakers in the world is not currently producing because of the cyberattack, about which we know very little.

Who is responsible for the cyberattack on Toyota in Japan?

According to Jalopnik, who is responsible remains unknown, but the cyberattack came curiously close to Japan, providing support to a particular country. For Japan’s top automaker, all domestic production came to a screeching halt just after Japan backed Ukraine. Jalopnik reported that Toyota would suspend all domestic factory operations on Tuesday, losing around 13,000 cars. This is due to a cyberattack on a company supplying plastic parts and electronic components to its factories.

While the origin of the cyberattack is unknown, it’s worth noting that it happened immediately after Japan backed Ukraine. It is unknown whether or not the incidents are related. The production halt affects many different models. Although if you’ve been in the market for a new vehicle in the last two years, you might wonder how production could get any worse.

How many Toyota vehicles are produced in Japan?

According to Toyota, most of its overall production takes place in Japan. Nearly double the amount of vehicles created in the next highest production location is produced there. More specifically, the automaker built just over 1,100,000 Toyota models in the United States throughout 2021. During the same time frame, Japan made nearly 2,900,000. While we don’t expect this production stoppage to go on for even close to a year, the impact will be massive regardless of length.

Japan produces most Toyota models, primarily sold in the United States. Consequently, if the production halt goes on long enough, the US market could see results.

Bad news for the new Toyota bZ4X EV

According to Jalopnik, Toyota doesn’t plan to sell a lot of bZ4X models. Moreover, the automaker dodged questions from Automotive News about how many it expects to build and sell after it goes on sale. The factory’s general manager where new Toyota EVs are built in Japan didn’t give much information. Instead, he gave a vague comment about how volumes will grow with broader EV adoption.

Historically, automakers that are confident in a new vehicle love answering these questions. While the bZ4X doesn’t have the strongest name, the automaker doesn’t seem to have much hope for it. Jalopnik reported that a Japanese news outlet claimed Toyota targets just 60,000 vehicles in the bZ4X’s first year of sale. Supposedly, it would then decline to 50,000 the following year. For comparison, the RAV4 crossover sold 407,000 units in the United States alone last year. With the cyberattack, low production numbers could get even lower.

Toyota production stopped in Japan

Production stoppages are nothing new for the automotive industry anymore. Instead, it’s just a new reason for what seems like every other week for an automaker to stop production. This time, the reasoning is significant, but the motive is unknown. Who launched a cyberattack against suppliers of Toyota vehicles? The attack that stopped Toyota production in Japan came curiously close to the country’s support of Ukraine.