Japanese carmakers are considering operating some plants on Thursdays and Fridays if production falls short of demand despite an industry-wide plan to close factories on those days instead of Saturdays and Sundays from July.
Honda and Nissan have said that they could withdraw from the voluntary agreement which is aimed at easing demands on Japan’s power supply, weakened by the earthquake and tsunami in March.
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The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said last month that its member firms would close their plants on Thursdays and Fridays to conserve energy on weekdays to the end of September.
Nissan said it will reduce electricity consumption by using so called smart meters while Honda said it will operate some factories on two Thursdays in July.
Nissan’s move may attract greater attention as its chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga announced the JAMA plan as chairman of the association.
Honda said its decision is ”inevitable” as the manufacturing of components has been unable to catch up with demand after March’s earthquake and tsunami and its plan to churn out vehicles would be affected otherwise.
Honda plans to open three plants in Mie, Shizuoka and Kumamoto prefectures on two Thursdays in July, while it has yet to decide whether to do likewise in August and September.
The combined number of workers at the three plants is about 300 and the impact on the industry’s project of saving electricity will be ”limited,” company executives said.
