Business

Toyota suspends some production at 11 plants in Japan

Strong earthquake in country disrupted the carmaker’s ability to procure key parts

Toyota vehicles parked at the company’s dealership in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Photograph: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg

Fri Mar 18 2022 - 07:37

Toyota Motor Corp is suspending some production at 11 plants in Japan for three days next week after a strong earthquake in northeast Japan disrupted the carmaker's ability to procure key parts.

A total of 18 lines will be halted Monday through Wednesday, leading to an estimated loss of around 20,000 units, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said Friday. The stoppages stem from Toyota’s inability to secure certain parts from suppliers impacted by the tremor that struck off the shore of Fukushima prefecture earlier this week, she said.

The earthquake-related parts shortages are the latest in what’s dragged into months of seemingly unrelenting disruptions for the world’s number one automaker.

Toyota’s factories have been halted recently due to a cyberattack on one of its suppliers and a Covid outbreak in the Chinese city of Changchun. Toyota also suspended two car plants in north Japan following the earthquake, though they resumed assembly at a limited capacity on Thursday.

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The magnitude 7.4 earthquake, which killed three and injured more than 100, took a number of auto-part suppliers’ factories offline earlier this week. Top Toyota supplier Denso’s Fukushima facilities were temporarily halted after incurring damage, though the company was in the process of restarting most production as of late Thursday, according to a spokeswoman.

Hitachi Astemo also temporarily halted seven factories in northern Japan while inspecting for any damage to the facilities, a spokesman for the auto-parts supplier said Thursday. Renesas Electronics, a key automotive chipmaker, halted three of its facilities in Ibaraki, Gunma and Yamagata prefectures.

Separately, Subaru announced Friday it plans to suspend operations at three factories in Gunma for two days this month due to parts shortages caused by the earthquake. – Bloomberg

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