Car Production Hit By Japanese Earthquake | Industry - Car News Mar 2011

09:11 Tuesday 14 Feb 2012

The car industry has not escaped the tragic events unfolding in Japan, as plants are forced to close due to earthquake damage.

As large parts of the Japanese economy begin to take account of the damage caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11 this year, the effects of the disaster on the country’s car industry are beginning to become clear.

As the largest car producer in Japan, Toyota has been hit hard. They have now announced that all car production in Japan will remain suspended until March 22nd at the earliest. And foreign production has not escaped the effects of this disaster either. Although their main seaport has not been affected, many of the smaller dockyards which the company uses were hit by the seven metre high tsunami which rocked Japan’s east coast. With the supply of parts from Japan unable to be maintained, the firm’s North American plants have been forced to cut all overtime and put a temporary stop to weekend shifts.

Meanwhile Nissan’s plant in the south Fukushima prefecture, which produces their Iwaki engine, is still being hit by aftershocks. Although they are in the process of repairing their other Japanese plants, problems with the delivery of parts from many of the small companies who supply them has slowed down the process of bringing them back on-line.

Mitsubishi’s production has been able to restart today, as the three Japanese plants producing their Shogun, Lancer, Lancer Evolution X, ASX, and iMiEV, which are located in Gifu, Okayama and Aichi, were lucky enough to escape being damaged. However that does not mean that the company will not be affected at all, as there are still trying to establish the degree to which their suppliers have been hit by the disaster.

All production at Honda’s Sayama Plant, Ogawa Plant, and their Suzuka, Hamamatsu, Tochigi and Hamamatsu factories has been suspended until 20th March, and they have also been forced to shut their Research and Development centres.

Suzuki, Mazda and Isuzu have also closed all of their plants until Sunday at the earliest.
And it is not just production which has been affected. Both BMW, who employ around 750 sales staff, and Volkswagen who employ around 600, have begun the process of repatriating any employees who wish to leave Japan. And Motorsport has been affected too. The Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix was supposed to be held on April 24 at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, but it has had to be postponed until October 2.

But despite being hit so hard the car industry in Japan is still willing to play its part in helping the country to recover. Nissan have offered a donation of over 400,000,000 yen, which works out around £3 million, to help the relief effort, and are also providing aid agencies with 50 vehicles to use. And Honda have also been generous, providing 1,000 generators to areas where the electricity supply has been hit, as well as a donation of 3,000,000,000 yen (approx £25 million).