Storm Wrecks Toyota: Brazilian Plant Thrown Into Chaos
When the skies unleash their full force, even the titans of the automotive world are left powerless. In Brazil’s heartland, normally tranquil São Paulo state, a devastating storm ripped through the municipality of Porto Feliz, tearing the roof off Toyota’s engine plant and bringing operations to a standstill.
When nature decides to reveal its raw strength, the industry’s biggest names can do little but watch. In Porto Feliz, a quiet corner of São Paulo state, Toyota’s engine factory fell victim to a violent tempest that left the building roofless and the production lines drowned. This facility, tasked with supplying engines for the new Yaris Cross, has now been idled indefinitely.
The Yaris Cross was meant to make its long-awaited local debut on October 16, 2025. That date now stands empty. The plant, inaugurated in 2016 with an annual capacity of more than 100,000 engines, was reduced overnight to a flooded wreck of twisted metal and broken beams.
The onslaught came at midday on September 22, when powerful winds tore away the roof and driving rain flooded the factory floor. Fortune spared the workforce from tragedy. Several workers sustained only minor injuries and no fatalities were reported. Yet social media videos leave no doubt as to the scale of the devastation: water pouring through factory halls, machinery bent out of shape, and even a car overturned like a toy.
Whether Toyota can salvage its production plans or whether the Yaris Cross will face a much longer road to market is the question now hanging in the air, like a loose sheet of corrugated metal left flapping after a hurricane.
