Toyota cuts production for the fourth straight month
Toyota and Lexus reduced production by 3.9 per cent in February 2026, bringing total output down to 749,673 cars. That now makes four consecutive months of decline. Even so, the picture is not quite as bleak as the headline suggests. Sales also slipped in February, but the combined result for the opening two months of the year still remains just about in positive territory.
A broad slowdown, not a one off wobble
Toyota and Lexus production fell 3.9 per cent compared with the same month last year, while total output for January and February reached 1,484,770 cars, 4.9 per cent below the figure for the same period a year earlier. Reuters added that global production in February dropped to 749,673 vehicles, extending the decline into a fourth straight month.
At this point, it no longer looks like a brief wobble at one factory or in one market. It looks like a proper industrial trend.
Most of the pressure came from outside Japan. Domestic plants cut output by 2.6 per cent, while overseas operations slipped by 4.6 per cent. The sharpest blow came in Canada, where production collapsed by 46.2 per cent. Toyota says that reflects the end of production for the outgoing RAV4 and preparations for the next generation model. Reuters also reported that output fell 11.5 per cent in China and 20.4 per cent in the Middle East, while the United States increased production by 3.4 per cent and Europe by 3.9 per cent.
That contrast says a good deal about Toyota’s position. The problem is not weakness across the whole system. It is that different regions are moving at very different speeds.
Sales soften, but demand still holds up
Global sales for Toyota and Lexus fell by 3.3 per cent in February to 737,134 vehicles, yet the combined result for January and February still sits 0.8 per cent above last year’s level. Reuters noted that Toyota still considers overall demand to be strong.
That matters, because it suggests the drop in production should not automatically be read as a loss of market position. At this stage, it reflects model cycle change and factory adjustment more than any sudden collapse in demand. Toyota is trying to bring the next RAV4 onto the line without making a mess of the wider production picture. Easier said than done, of course.
A warning from the world’s biggest carmaker
Toyota held on to its title as the world’s best selling carmaker in 2025, delivering a record 11.3 million vehicles across the group. That is precisely why four months of declining production sound louder here than they would at a smaller manufacturer. If even Toyota is feeling the strain of model changeovers, a weaker Chinese market and fragmented regional demand, then the whole industry is moving into a phase where sheer volume no longer guarantees stability.
Engineers and production managers now have to juggle model renewals and regional flexibility at the same time, trying to avoid a scenario in which the replacement of one key model drags down the global picture.
Honda and Nissan also cut production over the same period, while Suzuki increased output by more than 12 per cent thanks to demand in India. Toyota’s February result therefore looks less like a crisis and more like the shape of the new normal. Even the world’s largest carmaker now has to grow far more selectively than it once did.
