Toyota Motor on Wednesday said it would stop production at all Japanese factories for the rest of this week due to earthquake damage at a major components maker. Other car makers are also affected.
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The temporary closure of Riken’s plant in Kashiwazaki city, near the epicentre of Monday’s magnitude 6.8 ‘quake, was forcing the halt, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco told the Associated Press.
Riken supplies key transmission and engine parts to Toyota. The automaker would assess the situation there before deciding whether to resume production on Monday, Nolasco told the news agency.
Earlier, Reuters had reported that Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries was temporarily halting minivehicle production while Honda Motor had also said some of its car and motorcycle production could stop next week due to the damage at Riken, a major supplier of piston rings to Japanese automakers.
Fuji Heavy was reported to be halting production from Thursday’s second shift until Saturday, the equivalent of 1,500 units. Monday and Tuesday are planned company holidays there and the automaker will decide on resuming production from next Wednesday later this week, spokesman Kenta Matsumoto told the news agency.
Other major auto makers were said to be still making checks with Riken thouigh Credit Suisse auto analyst Koji Endo told Reuters he saw no cause for alarm.
“We have had these kinds of incidents over and over – whether it’s a typhoon or fire or earthquake. It’s not that significant,” he told the news agency, adding he expected automakers would make up for a week-long suspension in about three days of longer, intense production.
Other piston ring makers reported requests for substitute parts but one automaker cautioned that any substitutes would need to be tested first.
According to Reuters, Riken itself said it did not know when production would resume at its plants – it has two piston ring plants and nine affiliated facilities in and near Kashiwazaki, the city worst hit by Monday’s ‘quake.
The supplier has half of the domestic market for piston rings and around 70% of the market for oil seal rings used in automatic transmissions, the news agency said.
