DETROIT (Reuters). Toyota Motor (NYSE 🙂 Corp on Wednesday reduced its outlook 2022 for U.S. automotive industry new-cars sales. The reason was the challenges in the supply-chain due to the Ukraine war and the pandemic.

Bob Carter (executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America), stated on a conference phone that the Japanese automaker had revised its outlook to 15.5 millions vehicles, which was lower than 16.5 million.

He said, “The supply chain challenges we are seeing… will stay with us for awhile.”

Global auto manufacturing was already adversely affected by COVID-19 and the subsequent shortage of semiconductor chip chips. This happened even before Russia invaded Ukraine. It slowed parts of the supply chain, and led to an increase in prices for metals like aluminum and nickel.

Carter claimed that while the U.S. sector’s annualized sales rate for the first quarter was 14.3million, he feels “reasonably confident in” the updated forecast. He said that there could be a downturn of between 14.9 and 15 million sales, depending on how the supply chain continues to struggle.

Carter stressed that U.S. sales are not dependent on demand. A sales rate of mid-16million could be reached if there were enough vehicles built by automakers.

He stated, “That adjustment isn’t based on consumer demands.” It’s solely based on our projected supply environment.

Carter indicated that Toyota’s U.S. sales for Lexus and Toyota will be close to 2.35 Million vehicles in the coming year.

Carter believes that consumers will pay some extra for higher-quality raw materials, but this does not mean vehicle affordability is a major concern. Carter said that it would take six months for inventories to return to their normal levels after the supply chains recovers.

Toyota now has less than 2 vehicles per day in America, compared to a 40-45 days ago. He anticipates it to rise to 30 Days as the supply chains recovers.

“The vehicles were being sold literally before their construction,” he stated.