Toyota’s international output rose for the primary time in 5 months in August, led by features in abroad markets — specifically Southeast Asia, the place a COVID surge disrupted provide chains a yr in the past.

The automaker made 766,683 automobiles in August, up 44 p.c from a yr earlier, in keeping with an announcement Thursday.

World gross sales rose 3.8 p.c to 777,047 models, the primary improve in 12 months, Toyota stated.

Whereas Toyota nonetheless faces a scarcity of semiconductors and is battling lingering supply-chain constraints stemming from the pandemic, the state of affairs has improved from 12 months in the past when COVID instances have been larger, inflicting manufacturing facility shutdowns that led to a dearth of elements.

Toyota has caught to its manufacturing goal of 9.7 million automobiles for the fiscal yr by March 2023.

“The business as an entire is experiencing ups and downs,” stated Koichi Sugimoto, a senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. “It doesn’t imply that it is no good in any respect, but it surely doesn’t imply that it’s on a gradual rise both. The state of affairs continues to be unpredictable.”

Toyota’s output in Japan in August rose 5.6 p.c from a yr earlier to 196,038 models, additionally the primary improve in 5 months, in keeping with the assertion.

In the meantime, rival Nissan stated its international output rose for a second month in August, climbing 9 p.c from a yr earlier to 288,218 automobiles. Nevertheless, car gross sales fell 16 p.c to 254,842 models.

Honda’s international output rose 27 p.c to 347,661 models, the third consecutive month of features.