Major car firm announces it's ceasing production at Russian plant

Toyota has announced that it will cease operations at its St Petersburg production facility.

The Japanese firm suspended manufacturing at the site on March 4 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing ‘interruption in supply of key materials and parts’ and, since then, it has been ‘closely monitoring the situation and evaluating the future sustainability of our business in Russia’.

During that time, Toyota retained its plant workforce and remained ready to restart production ‘if the circumstances allowed’. However, it now sees ‘no indication’ that work can be restarted.

Toyota will be offering employees at the St Petersburg site re-employment and re-training, as well as ‘financial support above legal requirements’.

It has also said that its Moscow operations need to be ‘optimised and restructured’ while supporting dealerships in the country so that they can provide an ongoing service to ‘existing Toyota and Lexus customers’ in the country.

Back in March, Toyota pledged €2.5 million (£2.1m) to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, while also giving support to the more than 1,700 Ukrainian employees working at its European sites. Affected employees were given transport, shelter and access to medical services, alongside administrative support for families trying to leave the country.

A separate humanitarian fund was set up to provide relocation support for Toyota employees, too, with accommodation and meals provided for both the firm’s Ukrainian workforce and their families.