The Impact Of Japan’s Earthquake Continues: Toyota Has Halted Production At A Total Of Five Production Lines At Four Plants

The effects of the earthquake in Japan are continuing.

According to foreign media reports, on February 23 local time, the official website of Toyota Motor said that the earthquake caused a shortage of parts supply, announced the suspension of production at four factories in Japan, a total of five production lines.

The four plants produce Toyota Harrier, Prius α, RAV4, Lexus LC70, LC200/LX, and other models.

As for when the restart, Toyota did not say. At 23:00 on February 13, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake occurred off the eastern coast of Fukushima, Japan, with a focal depth of 55 kilometers, followed by earthquakes of more than 5 magnitudes.

This strong earthquake, to the Japanese automobile and semiconductor industry, brought a greater impact.

Affected by this, Toyota announced the suspension of 28 production lines in 15 local vehicle factories on February 16, 12 production lines in 8 local factories on February 19, and then announced the suspension of 12 production lines in 8 local vehicle factories on February 22. Combined with the current shutdown, the production stoppages are estimated to reduce production by 30,000 vehicles.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to Hitachi’s parts factories are affected, Renesas Electronics of Japan, which ranks third in the global market share of vehicle chips, has a main factory in Ibaraki Prefecture, which is adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture, and once suffered power failure due to the earthquake.

The plant restarted on Feb. 16, but it will take a week to get back to pre-quake capacity. Renesas Electronics had shifted some of its orders for in-car chips to Renesas, and the earthquake added to the woes of Japanese carmakers already facing a chip crisis.

 

The impact of the earthquake is not just on the auto industry in Japan, but also on every industry in the manufacturing plant, which will push up the cost of subsidiary industries along the entire industrial chain again.