Filed under: Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota
Japanese automakers shut down plants, lines after Monday's quake
by Alex Nunez on Jul 18th 2007 at 11:33AM 
The earthquake that struck Japan on Monday is affecting several automakers, most notably Toyota, as damage to a key supplier's manufacturing facility has interrupted the flow of parts required to build cars. Riken Corp's plant at Kashiwazaki is the one that got hit by the 6.8 magnitude quake, and the facility is offline while the company works feverishly to complete the necessary repairs.
Until it does, however, the impact is being felt across the Japanese auto industry. Toyota announced that it's halted production at 12 plants as a result. In addition, Mitsubishi is shutting down three factories, Nissan has stopped a pair of lines, and Fuji Heavy has stopped production of five minicar models as it waits for Riken to become operational again. Honda could also join the list very soon..
[Source: AP via Yahoo! News]
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
felipe 11:41AM (7/18/2007)
damn, Japan had a monsoon or whatever it is last week didnt they? like 160mph and 20"+ of rain... and now a 6.8quake....
hey maybe the 2.5 can catch up on sales now.
Reply
Avinash machado 11:46AM (7/18/2007)
Maybe GM could regain its status as world number one carmaker at least temporarily.
Reply
John R 11:57AM (7/18/2007)
I doubt this disaster will affect the Japan automakers to the point where the U.S. automakers will make sustained gains. Remember, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota make a number of their more popular of models Stateside.
Reply
MK 12:09PM (7/18/2007)
FYI Autoblog, the comments' plus/minus feature does not work in Firefox.
Toyota has plenty of inventory available to them, so this temporary shutdown won't hurt them in the short run. Funny, how a natural disaster is needed to slow down the Japanese car makers.
Reply
Lithous 12:41PM (7/18/2007)
"Funny, how a natural disaster is needed to slow down the Japanese car makers."
Yeah, nature saw those ugly ass vehicles like in the pic at the top of this blog entry and decided if humans don't stop the sale of those uninspired vehicles then something needs to do it.
Mallory 12:20PM (7/18/2007)
The cars gods are punishing them for building such bland, uninspired vehicles.
Reply
Lithous 12:44PM (7/18/2007)
Another fake Lithous post. Apparently dreaming about me isn't enough, you have to steal my username as well.
It only took you two years to realize you could use my username and the web app wouldn't stop you. Good job.
Avinash machado 12:51PM (7/18/2007)
Lithous maybe you should copyright your username. Then you can sue those fake Lithouses posting here for violation of copyright.
Reply
robz4 1:01PM (7/18/2007)
A little off topic but those cracks on the highway look big enough to almost swallow those micro cars on the picture. Makes me happy to live in the big old Canada with no earthquakes and oversize (and overpriced )cars.
Reply
Lithous 1:07PM (7/18/2007)
He's not Lithous, I am.
Reply
Barney 6:09PM (7/18/2007)
We like the other one better:)
James 6:40AM (7/19/2007)
Just to clarify, Honda and Mazda have also decided to halt some production as well due to the earthquake.
And yes, there was a typhoon here in Japan last week, but here in Western Honshu, we weren't much affected by either.
But I read an article saying that unless this production halt goes on for a good while, you're unlikely to notice when you show up at your local Toyota dealer.
Reply
Tyre 12:40PM (7/19/2007)
I think a bigger concern is the shut down of a major Japanese power plant. Which supplies power to 16 million homes. Oh, and it also happens to be the largest Nuclear plant in the world.
Reply
DeeDee 4:48PM (7/21/2007)
ha ha winning by default is just a nice way off saying that GM cheated because obviously Toyota is better. Like who would really waste their money on a "pontiac GTO" or "Saturn" but even worse Hummer or Cadilac HA! GM is such a Joke they should just stop attempting to make their so called "vehicles"
Reply
akshay 8:32AM (7/05/2008)
After all earthquake is a natural disaster, no matter how we afraid of it or try to avoid it but it's a fact which has taken the lives of the million. The big corporate houses of manufacturing, finance, currency trading , constructions houses will demolish in a few seconds due to its affect.
Many attempts have been made already to escape from earthquake, new technology, is keep on giving stress on finding new ways to save ourselves from this hazard.
Only destiny knows who will going to flee from this monster.
In the end whatever we say it is also the fruit of our deeds.
Reply