Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is forecasting improved production in November at its Japanese plants due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Southeast Asia.

The recovery includes confirmation that production of right-hand-drive LandCruiser 300 variants for Australia will resume next month.

TMC is now expecting to build between 850,000 and 900,000 vehicles across all models next month, compared with a November record of 830,000 vehicles produced last year.

The global carmaker said it had been striving to expand November production in Japan to one million vehicles to recover previous production shortfalls; but determined that such a level was not yet possible. The global production forecast for the fiscal year to 31 March 2022 remains unchanged at around nine million units.

Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley said the latest update was welcome news.

“We are optimistic that the all-new LandCruiser will start arriving at local dealerships in Australia in December, with retail launch timing to be confirmed,” Mr Hanley said.

“Together with our parent company, we are doing everything we can to get customers into their new Toyota vehicles as soon as possible, whether it’s the all-new LandCruiser or any other model that is in high demand,” he said.

Mr Hanley said TMC had also advised that production of HiLux and Fortuner in Thailand will be impacted during November, although supply is expected to improve substantially in December.

“As the availability of supply is an evolving situation around the world, we are continuing to work closely with our global production team to secure the maximum possible number of vehicles for our customers,” he said.

“We apologise to customers experiencing delays and we sincerely thank them for their patience. We ask our customers to please contact their local dealer for updates on the status of their individual orders.”