20 March 2011

The full impact of the Japanese earthquake on its car industry and the wider international retail networks is still being assessed, as the country’s manufacturers gradually return to operational status.

Toyota and Honda plan to resume work on Wednesday as they continue to assess damage to their plants in north-east Japan, the worst affected region. Honda has 110 suppliers in the area and it has still not been able to contact 22 of those, reports the Sunday Times.

The BBC has reported that Nissan restarted production at some of its plants on Friday, but Japanese investment bank Nomura believes it is likely to be hardest hit as a factory it owns in the earthquake zone supplies 12% of its engines. Problems at the company could spill over to sister firm Renault.
Estimates by Goldman Sachs foresee profits reduced by $666m at Toyota, $225m at Honda and $100m at Nissan, but the figures do not take into account damage to plants or other assets.

In the UK Toyota has stopped all overtime working for staff at Burnaston and its engine operation in Deeside North Wales until it gets a clearer view of supply chain problems.

Neither Mitsubishi nor Suzuki manufacturing plants in Japan were directly affected by the earthquake. Mitsubishi restarted production last Wednesday, and has confirmed that there are at least 4 months of vehicle supply on the ground in the UK. Suzuki expects to start up again tomorrow (Monday).

Tags: Earthquake, Japan, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, Tsunami