Toyota has officially resumed production at its Durban factory, with most product lines – including that of the Hilux – finally back online (though not yet at full capacity)…

Toyota South Africa Motors has confirmed production at its Prospecton plant in KwaZulu-Natal has resumed after the facility was forced to halt assembly back in mid-April 2022 owing to severe flood damage.

While Hino truck production recommenced as early as 23 May, Toyota’s passenger-car and light-commercial vehicle lines remained suspended until just a few days ago.

The Durban factory sustained major damage when a wall of water and silt came down the river alongside the plant after the sluices at the overflowing Shongweni Dam were opened. Toyota said cleaning the mud and fine silt from the many pieces of electronic and mechanical equipment in the various production areas had proved “extremely time-consuming”.

The Prospecton plant finally started building the Hilux, Fortuner, Corolla Cross and Hi-Ace again in the past few days, though Toyota SA Motors told Cars.co.za production was “nowhere near” full capacity just yet. The Japanese firm’s local division added units would start trickling through to dealerships in “any significant numbers” only from mid- to late-August, with full production levels set to be reached by September.

Meanwhile, the Corolla Quest line remains idle, with Toyota SA Motors saying production of the prolonged lifecycle sedan would likely resume at some point in August.

While production of the Corolla Cross has resumed, the Corolla Quest has yet to join the party.

Many of the factory’s operational parts were reconditioned rather than replaced since new parts were not immediately available. Therefore, the company says it has opted against implementing overtime weekend shifts, saying it would instead reserve weekends for the replacement of these reconditioned parts as new components are delivered.

Despite not building a single passenger car or light-commercial vehicle in June 2022, Toyota managed to keep its nose well ahead of all challengers in the sales stakes that month, with the 7 439 units it registered proving more than enough to keep the Volkswagen Group (5 627 units) in second and Suzuki (4 622 units) in third.

The Hilux, though, had to settle for fourth place on the list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies in June 2022, with its 969 sales seeing it slot in behind the Ford Ranger (1 601 units), Isuzu D-Max (1 280 units) and Nissan NP200 (1 249 units). Year to date, however, the Hilux is still well ahead, with its 15 992-unit total more than double that of the second-placed Isuzu D-Max (7 140 units).

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