TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp cut its annual production target on Friday by 300,000 vehicles as a slowdown in output at COVID-19 hit parts factories in Vietnam and Malaysia added to the pain of a global shortage of auto chips.

       "It's a combination of the coronavirus and semiconductors, but at the moment it is the coronavirus that is having the overwhelming impact," Kazunari Kumakura, an executive at the world's biggest car maker, said after the company revised its production target.

       The Japanese car maker now expects to build 9 million vehicles in the year to March 31, rather than 9.3 million.

       After earlier cutting production by 360,000 worldwide in September, Toyota said on Friday it will reduce output by another 70,000 this month and by 330,000 in October. - Reuters