By Emmanuel Nduka
Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota Motor Corp, on Monday announced that it was preparing to shut down all of its plants in Japan as from March 1.
The decision, it said, is due to a cyberattack on one of its domestic suppliers.
Toyota will temporarily shut down operations at 28 production lines in 14 factories nationwide.
Its supplier, Kojima Industries, suspects it may have been hit by a cyberattack; the supplier makes metal, plastic and electronic components.
The car maker has been suffering from chip shortages and COVID-19-related disruptions since January this year.
The latest shutdown comes at a time when the automaker is looking to ramp up production and make up for lost production to meet the soaring demand for cars.
(dpa)
