Floods halt Toyota's Thailand plants, delaying HiLux diesel ute exports
Why it matters: Thailand is one of the world's two main HiLux production hubs alongside South Africa, so any stoppage ripples through diesel ute supply to export markets across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Australia.
Toyota Motor Thailand paused output at several plants after severe flooding hit Bangkok and surrounding provinces, with factories in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao and Chonburi stopping car production from 5 to 10 October. The stoppage affected exports of the HiLux, Land Cruiser FJ, Corolla Altis, Corolla Cross, Ativ and Zenix. Thailand's disaster agency said more than 3 million people were affected by the flooding nationwide. An update on 10 October set provisional restart dates: 12 October, paused for a public holiday on the 13th, with full resumption from 14 October subject to review, plant by plant through to 19 October. Thailand's industry federation raised its damage estimate to almost 6 billion baht, up from 1.5 billion a week earlier.
Source: AutoIndustriya.com, 3 October 2026, updated via The Star/Bangkok Biznews and Reuters, 8 October 2026.