Toyota has reported that, for the third month in a row, it has exceeded its own production expectations despite global chip shortages that continue to cause havoc for the auto industry at large. Toyota saw a 23% increase in October global vehicle output for a grand total of 771,382 vehicles built that month. That figure beats the Japanese automaker's original 750,000-unit goal. However, output has slowed down somewhat; Toyota previously reported producing over 887,000 vehicles in September.

Still, Toyota continues to prove its resilience in the wake of the global pandemic as well as ongoing parts shortages stemming from Covid lockdowns in China. The carmaker says it's still on schedule to build 9.2 million vehicles for the fiscal year ending in March 2023. That figure is down from the 9.7 million prediction earlier in the year but remains ahead of last year's 8.6 million units.

Compared to many other automakers, Toyota has weathered the global pandemic far better for a number of reasons, among them its decision to stockpile those crucial semiconductor chips. This was a hard lesson learned after the 2011 tsunami that caused major disruptions in Toyota's supply chain. It realized at the time the necessity to invest heavily in backup plans for future natural disasters or, in this case, a health crisis.

A few weeks ago, we reported on production suspensions set to take place next month for the popular Toyota RAV4, 4Runner, and several Lexus models at North American facilities. The situation is nowhere near as dire as some might believe as these suspensions will only last a few days.

Toyota still remains on track to build 700,000 vehicles in December. A total of 250,000 will be assembled in Japan with the remaining 500,000 at other global facilities. In previous months, some 800,000 units have rolled off assembly lines, so it's clear Toyota is struggling a bit as the year winds down. It took Toyota some time to acknowledge its production shortcomings, possibly due to investor-related reasons and/or internal pressure.

Regardless, Toyota remains in a relatively solid position as the industry continues to recover, which many analysts believe won't happen until later next year, at the earliest.