All eight Japanese car makers will halt at least some domestic production for up to three days after a key piston ring maker’s plants were hit by a powerful earthquake on Monday.
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Honda Motor and Mazda joined other Japanese car makers on Thursday in announcing output halts after Riken factories that also make transmission seals were damaged, Reuters reported.
Riken supplies over half the market and car production re-starts hinge on the supplier which told the news agency it was “doing everything possible” to resume partial production early next week once it finishes inspecting and testing equipment.
Reuters said the Nikkei business daily estimated that this week’s stoppages, excluding the tally from Honda and Mazda, would amount to roughly 70% of Japan’s domestic vehicle production capacity.
Assemblers plan to make up for lost output in August or later, while analysts said they expect little long-term impact on their business, the news agency added.
“Assuming the shutdown lasts for two days, it could cost the industry about 65,000 units for production and about JPY100bn yen ($US820m) in revenue,” Macquarie Securities auto analyst Kurt Sanger wrote in a note cited by Reuters.
He added that a two- to three-day shutdown would entail little impact on earnings since the automakers would likely offset the lost production through overtime over the course of the quarter, according to the report.
Reuters said the car makers’ shut-downs were starting to affect other key suppliers such as Denso and Aisin Seiki whose previusly planned deliveries now being postponed.
