TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. and other Japanese automakers on Monday resumed operations at their plants in China following suspensions in response to the outbreak of the new strain of coronavirus in the country.

Toyota restarted two of its four plants -- one in Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and the other in Changchun in Jilin Province. But the level of production will be reduced to half of the normal levels for the time being as the company needs to check parts supply conditions.

Toyota closed the four plants in China in late January in line with the start of China's Lunar New Year holiday period.

The company initially planned to reopen them in stages from early this month, but postponed the restart to Feb. 10 or later at the instructions of local governments in China in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The resumption was delayed again, to Monday or later, for examining the impacts of the viral outbreak on the parts supply chains.

The company's plant in Tianjin will be brought back online on Tuesday, while its plant in Chengdu in Sichuan Province will return to operation on Feb. 24 or later.

"With the auto industry spanning various sectors, the situation at parts makers would be unknown unless factories are restarted," Toyota President Akio Toyoda told reporters.

Honda Motor Co. partially resumed production at its automobile plant in Guangzhou on Monday. The company plans to gradually increase production at the facility while monitoring parts supply condition, an official of Honda said.

The company also restarted its motorcycle plants in Guangzhou and Taicang in Jiangsu Province the same day.

Nissan Motor Co. resumed operations at its Guangzhou plant, while aiming to restart the plant in Dalian in Liaoning Province on Friday and the factories in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, and in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, on Feb. 24 at the earliest.

Mazda Motor Corp. resumed operations at its plant in Nanjing, Jiangsu, but production is limited as many employees are not back to work yet.

Meanwhile, Hino Motors Ltd. decided to postpone the restart of operations at its truck plant in Guangzhou to Feb. 24 or later, taking account of factors such as the supply chain situation.

The company partially restarted its Shanghai plant on Monday and will decide when to get it back to full-scale operations after monitoring the situation on parts procurement.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. put off the restart of its plant in Changsha, Hunan Province, to Feb. 27 or later from the earlier planned Monday or later, because of a delay in parts procurement.

JIJI Press