South Korean President met with economic officials on Friday, when the won traded 0.6% higher, amid talk of modest intervention in the forex market. The won hit a 13-year low recently.

The semiconductor shortage, which forced some carmakers to halt production, put a spotlight on chip powerhouse Taiwan and made supply chain management a priority for governments

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki made the pledge after his government last week intervened in the forex market to help the yen for the first time in 24 years

The world's largest automaker produced 766,683 vehicles worldwide last month, above its target of around 700,000 and above year-ago output of 531,448.

The bZ3 sedan will be the second model of Toyota's "Beyond Zero" collection," powered by BYD electric batteries.

The US will work to address South Korea's worry about recently electric vehicle subsidies that could disadvantage Asian carmakers, US Vice-President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday

Japanese authorities appear ready to respond to speculative currency moves – days after Tokyo spent an estimated $25 billion to defend the yen in the foreign exchange market.

Mazda said in March exports of parts to the Vladivostok plant were going to end and production would cease when stocks ran out. But it has yet to say what it will do now.

The St Petersburg factory has a capacity of 100,000 units a year and produced Toyota's Camry and RAV4 models

Currency traders said the currency swap deal with the National Pension Service would remove a big source of dollar demand and could help bolster the weakening currency

The intervention came after the Bank of Japan stuck with its ultra-low rate policy, which prompted a drop in the yen past 145 per dollar to a 24-year low.

A feeble yen is less of a benefit for Japan’s manufacturers than it used to be as companies have moved production and supply chains overseas