Toyota’s global car output fell again in July, putting the company’s yearly goal in jeopardy.

Toyota Motor Corporation reported on Tuesday that its global car production fell 8.6% year-over-year in July, missing its target for the fourth consecutive month due to COVID outbreaks, extreme weather, a recall investigation, and a prolonged chip shortage.

Relsted: Toyota is likely to make less money in Q1 because of problems with production.

Even though China eased flu restrictions and chip shortages got better, the world’s largest carmaker by sales had a bad month in July. This made people worry that Toyota might have to lower its annual production goal of 9.7 million cars.

Last month, Toyota made 706,547 cars around the world. This was far less than its goal of 800,000 cars and the number of cars it made the year before, which was 771,135.

In the first four months of the current fiscal year, which began in April, output fell 10.3 percent short of expectations.

Chip shortages and China’s strict COVID rules have caused supply chain problems in the global auto industry, but Toyota has also had to deal with heavy rain in Japan, a production line stop because of an investigation into a recall, and coronavirus outbreaks at a local facility.

Relsted: Toyota changes its Crown line and makes new models, like an SUV that will be sold outside of Japan.

In July, Toyota’s domestic production dropped by 28.2%. This was more than made up for by a 4.5% rise in international production, which was driven by a strong rebound in Europe, China, and the rest of Asia.

Toyota plans to build over 700,000 vehicles in August of this year, compared to approximately 530,000 in August of last year. I believe the situation is beginning to improve, “said Seiji Sugiura, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

Intent on making a strong recovery, the corporation said earlier this month that it would maintain its yearly production target and increase output through November, contingent on the availability of components and staff. It anticipates a September production record of around 850 thousand vehicles.

Still, Sugiura said that Toyota wasn’t out of the woods yet. He said that uncertainty about where to get reliable chips was a risk, and he doubted that the company would be able to meet its 9.7 million unit production goal.

Relsted: Toyota reduces its June production plan to 800,000 automobiles.

“Regarding the recovery from the scenario in the first half of the year, I expect that the firm will set the monthly production level at 800,000 or 850,000 units per month in the second half of the year. If monthly output hits 800,000 units, that will be a record, “he stated.