Toyota, Honda temporarily idle Malaysia plants amid COVID-19 lockdown

TOKYO: Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor said they have temporarily idled plants in Malaysia as the country entered a 14-day lockdown in the capital and five states following a surge in coronavirus cases.

Toyota said two assembly plants building the Yaris sedan and Hilux halted production on Thursday. Operations there from Friday onwards will be decided later, a spokeswoman said.

Honda temporarily idled two factories in Penang and Malacca from Wednesday, a Honda spokesman said. At the Malacca plant, the automaker builds Civic and Accord cars.


The Malaysian lockdown took effect at midnight on Wednesday, barring all social activities and interstate travel nationwide.