By Gurmukh Singh

Toronto/New York, April 20 (IANS) Toyota is further cutting its production in North America plants because of shortage of parts caused by the March 11 disaster in Japan. The auto major also said for the first time that there could be short supply of its vehicles this summer.

The shortage of small Toyota cars in North America could come at a time when vehicle production in Canada and the US has risen 17 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the output last year.

Worse still, the shortage comes amid rising gas prices in North America when people will be looking for small cars like Toyota's Corolla. The Corolla and Honda's Civic are the two most sold small cars in North America.

In addition to its previous April 15-25 production cuts announced in he first week of this this month, Toyota said Tuesday that its Canadian production will be suspended the week of May 23 and US production will be suspended the week of May 30.

On other days when the plants open, they will operate at 50 percent of their capacity, Toyota said.

In Canada, Toyota is stopping production of Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX350 vehicles at its plant, as well as the assembly of RAV4 crossover utility vehicles at its Woodstock plant.

In the US, Toyota's head of sales Bob Carter said in New York Tuesday that the car giant faced the prospects of lowering its sales target because of supply disruptions.

Though the car major sources 85 percent of the parts and materials for its 12 North American-built Toyota and Lexus models from 500 suppliers on this continent, some crucial components are still imported from Japan.

Toyota said it is "trying to continue production as much as possible with its workforce intact in order to facilitate a smooth transition back to full production when all parts are available.''