TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Toyota Motor Corp. is considering shifting some production at its central Japan home ground to other areas in a realignment aimed at addressing a labor shortage and natural disaster risks, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

One of the reorganization plans under consideration is to increase its production capacity in the Tohoku and Kyushu regions, located in the country's northeast and southwest, respectively, by 200,000 units each by around the early 2030s while cutting its output in the Tokai region, where it is headquartered, the sources said.

After the revamp, the automaker would be able to build 600,000 units each in Tohoku and Kyushu, while production in Tokai would be brought down from the current 2.2 million units, with its total output capacity in Japan left unchanged at around 3 million cars.

The plan is subject to changes depending on market conditions and may not materialize, the sources said. Toyota currently operates 14 auto factories in Japan.

The consideration comes as a government panel estimates there is an approximately 80 percent chance that a megaquake with a magnitude 8 to 9 will occur in the Nankai Trough -- an ocean-floor trench along the country's Pacific coast where the Eurasian and Philippine Sea tectonic plates meet -- within the next 30 years, with areas such as central Japan expected to suffer significant damage.

In addition, a severe labor shortage in the Tokai region is making it difficult for the automaker to secure enough workers. The diversification of production will address such problems, the sources said.

The Tokai region will remain its core hub for domestic production, and the company is also considering utilizing the space made available through the output transfer for the development of electric vehicles and software, they said.