We at Toyota would like to again apologize for the repeated adjustments to our production plan due to the spread of COVID-19 and shortages of parts such as semiconductors, and for causing considerable inconvenience to our customers, who have been waiting for the delivery of vehicles, suppliers, and other parties concerned.
We have had to make a number of changes to our production plan due to parts supply shortages such as semiconductors, imposing considerable burdens on production sites including those of suppliers. Last April, we revised production plans to be more reasonable in line with recent realities as part of an "intentional pause" and created plans based on the personnel structures and facility capacities of suppliers.
Our approach to our 2023 production plan is to place the highest priority on safety and quality while making every effort to deliver as many vehicles as possible to our customers at the earliest date. To this end, we have engaged in repeated discussions on creating achievable production plans with minimal fluctuation.
Currently, we are working toward a production volume with a ceiling of 10.6 million units for 2023. However, as in the previous year, the impact of parts supply shortages such as semiconductors remains unclear. Thus, we have set a baseline production volume with a downward risk fluctuation range of approximately 10%. This value is intended to communicate production plans to suppliers and other stakeholders as a baseline reference for planning personnel structures and facility capacities. We are sharing this value that incorporates a range as there will be fluctuation risks to our production volume ceiling in the event of impact from parts supply shortages such as semiconductors, as there was in the previous year. We will work closely with our suppliers in advance to reduce the impact of fluctuations as much as possible in our production activities.
The situation this year remains difficult to predict due to factors such as semiconductor shortages and the spread of COVID-19. However, we will continue to carefully examine parts supplies and supplier situations to create more stable production plans and reduce supplier burdens, while considering all possible production fluctuation measures to ensure that we can deliver as many vehicles as possible to our customers at the earliest date.
