The 11 March earthquake/tsunami in north east Japan reduced US automotive supply by about 400,000 new cars and trucks during the second quarter leading to shortages at dealers.
Ford chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick told the Wall Street Journal that demonstrated the economic “supply shock” the auto industry suffered as the ‘quake stopped factories and disrupted parts flow. The loss included vehicles never shipped to the US from Japan and the loss of production from plants operating in the US. On a world wide basis, the auto industry lost as many as 2m vehicles.
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“These production losses will diminish considerably as we get into the July to September period and at this time, third quarter production losses could be well under 100,000 units,” Hughes-Cromwick said. “I think what we are going to get is a very sizable swing here and that the loss during the third quarter will be far less than what we will [see] through [to] the end of June.”
