News Watch via COMTEX) -- Toyota Motor Co (NYSE:TM) announced earlier today that they will have to close down all of their North American factories by the end of this month due to a parts shortage caused by the damage from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

 

The temporary shutdown of the company's 13 factories in North America is inevitable, the company said. How long the production stoppage will last is unknown. 25,000 workers will be affected, but no layoffs are expected.

The factories have been using parts from their inventories and those that were shipped before the disaster, but those supplies are running out.

"We're going to get to a point this month where that gap in the pipeline starts to show up. So we'll have to suspend production for a while," spokesman Mike Goss said.

Toyota gets about 15% of the parts for cars and trucks built in North America from Japan, "but still you have to have them all to build the vehicles," Goss said.

Shares of Toyota Motor are trading down 1.29% at $79.47.

Toyota Motor is currently below its 50-day moving average (MA) of $86.20 and should find support at its 200-day MA of $76.73.

In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day MA has fallen 0.51% while the 200-day MA has risen 0.27%.

Toyota Motor Corporation manufactures, sells, leases, and repairs passenger cars, trucks, buses, and their related parts worldwide. The Company also operates financing services through their subsidiaries. Toyota Motor builds homes, produces pleasure boats, and develops intelligent transportation systems including radar cruise control and electronic toll collection systems.

Write to Chip Brian at cbrian@mysmartrend.com

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