Production of vehicles around the world is affected by various supply disruptions from unrest in Guinea, which is the world’s second-biggest bauxite exporter, to the global chip shortage with semiconductor production affected in various countries including Malaysia.

Numerous Japanese manufacturers have been reportedly affected by Malaysia’s chip supply disruption including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Adding to that list of affected carmakers is Daihatsu which has said that it will pause production on its Japanese plants for up to 9 working days.

Also read: Malaysia's chip supply disruption: Japanese car companies cut output by 1 mil

According to a report by Asahi Shimbun, the five plants in Osaka and Shiga prefectures will be temporarily halted between 1- to 15-October. As a result, production for that month could be reduced by 20,000 units.

One of the plants in Shiga prefecture is also where the Perodua Ativa’s donor twins, the Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky are built.

Daihatsu said to the Japanese media that the reason was due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which affected its suppliers in Southeast Asia. Though no specific nations were mentioned, another Japanese media has mentioned Malaysia and Vietnam as where some of these parts suppliers are based from.

Also read: Failure to contain Covid-19: Chip manufacturers mull exiting Malaysia

Japan’s oldest carmaker has also said to the Japanese daily that when the plants restart from 16-October, there is a possibility that production will continue but with reduced capacity due to the nation’s rising number of cases.

This isn't the first time Daihatsu temporarily halted production in 2021 though. In July, Daihatsu suspended production for two days citing parts shortage but only the Shiga plant was affected then.