Although initially the Japanese carmaker said it has no plans to halt production in Europe as a result of the sudden acceleration-related recall, it would appear the negative reaction from the public caught up with the sales figures and forced the carmaker into taking this step.
"The recall is one of the issues that affect it but there are other specific market factors such as the ending of scrappage schemes," a Toyota spokeswoman told just-auto.com "We continue to monitor demand and we will continue to adjust accordingly."
initially, the plant was scheduled to cease production for four days, starting with March 29. Now, the extra idle week will begin as soon as the programmed one ends, on April 5.
"We are lumping those together there was some reduction in our forecasts because of a sales slowdown in Europe," the Toyota official added.
For workers, the plant closure is however more of a voluntary deal. Those who want to come to work, they may do so but, since vehicle
production will not resume during the period, workers will have to undertake "improvement and training activities," at least in the first week.
"The second week, we actually don't know how we are handling that, so that is part of our employee discussions at the moment."
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