Toyota Stops Production in Britain and France for 9 Days on Recall Issues

The recalls of Toyota vehicles has hit the company hard, and that pain has extended to countries where it has significant production capabilities in, the latest being Britain and France, where they have closed down for 9 days because of slowing sales.

Production shutdowns will be a combination of 9 days in the two countries, with Britain having two factories shut down for five working days in an unspecified period in May, and France having four days scheduled to be shut down starting on April 6.

Although the closures in Britain were attributed to previous plans, a spokeswoman for the company did say slow car sales from the recall contributed to the decision.

In France the shutdowns are completed attributed to the recall challenges, according to spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi.

Also in Britain, Toyota plans to shut down one of the assembly lines at it Burnaston Plant for five working days as well.

Sales in the European Union have been particularly hit hard, dropping 20 percent in February from the year before, and that was as car sales in the region had increased by 3 percent for the year.
 
Toyota sales in the U.S. weren't nearly as bad, dropping by 9 percent in February from the year before.
 
So far Toyota has had to recall 8.5 million vehicles globally from braking and pedal problems.