TOKYO - Japanese car giant Toyota said on Friday that global production in January surged from a year earlier as it made up for losses in output caused by the Thai floods and the March quake-tsunami.

Toyota said production last month surged 17.6% on year to 809,630 vehicles, while rivals Honda and Nissan saw a boost of 6.9% and 3.7%, the carmakers said in statements.

"We are trying to make up for the period when our production dropped because of floods in Thailand and the March 11 quake in Japan," said Toyota spokesman Dion Corbett.

Severe flooding last year in Thailand, a production hub for many Japanese firms, forced the closure of factories, which particularly hit the auto and computer hard-disk drive (HDD) sectors.

The floods added to a bad year for Japanese firms that were already fighting to restore output after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which closed plants at home while they also grappled with a profit-eroding strong yen.

Toyota said its domestic production climbed 27.3% to 370,370 and overseas production rose 10.4% to 439,730.

Honda's global production in January rose 6.9% to 316,926 vehicles, with its domestic production climbing 42.4%.

Nissan's global output rose 3.7% to 389,230, to which a 17.4% rise in domestic production contributed.