TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will halt production at all its factories in Japan for the rest of the week due to quake-induced damage at a major parts supplier.

The temporary closure of auto parts maker Riken Corp.'s plant at Kashiwazaki city, near the epicenter of Monday's magnitude 6.8 quake, was forcing the halt, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said.

Toyota will assess the situation at Riken, which supplies key transmission and engine parts to Toyota, before deciding whether to resume production on Monday, Nolasco said.

http://www.star-telegram.com/466/story/172669.html

 

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- A powerful earthquake that rocked Japan's northwest coast Monday could force some Japanese car companies to suspend domestic production, because they might not be able to procure enough parts from suppliers affected by the temblor.

Riken Corp. (6462.TO), an engine parts supplier, is still unable to resume production at a plant in Niigata Prefecture, northwest Japan, that it stopped after the 6.8-magnitude quake did serious damage to the plant.

Riken, which is Japan's biggest maker of piston rings for engines with a 50% share, and which supplies the products to all Japanese auto makers, still doesn't know when it will be able to fully restore operations at the factory.
Among Japanese auto makers, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (7270.TO) has decided to halt part of its domestic production later this week due to unclear prospects for the resumption of operations at Riken's plant.

Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO) President Takeo Fukui said Wednesday at the company's midyear press conference that his company is investigating the impact of the damage done to Riken's production facilities.
Koki Hirashima, a Honda senior managing director in charge of production operations, told reporters after the press conference that the company procures about 30% of its overall engine-use piston rings from Riken.
Hirashima said Honda has enough piston rings in stock for production for this week. But if Riken remains unable to resume production of piston rings for the time being, that will start having "an impact" on Honda's manufacturing next week.

He added that Honda has already started asking other makers of piston rings whether they can increase supplies to the auto maker to make up for a possible supply shortage caused by Riken.
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Co.'s (7201.TO) transmission-making subsidiary Jatco Ltd. said it will partially halt production Wednesday evening due to the production stoppage at Riken, cutting its output capacity by 60%.
A spokesman at Jatco, which procures seal rings for transmissions from Riken, said the company doesn't know if it will be able to fully restore its operations Thursday.

Nissan's domestic production will be affected if the subsidiary continues to lower production, a Nissan spokesman said, adding that the company is discussing what possible steps it should take in case its production is impacted by its suppliers.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO), Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (7211.TO) and Mazda Motor Corp. (7261.TO) said Wednesday that they are collecting information about Riken and other suppliers operating in the quake-devastated areas.

Fuji Heavy, the maker of the Subaru-brand vehicles, said it will halt production of all five of its minivehicle models by Saturday after operating the output lines until Thursday evening. Its entire supply of piston rings for minivehicles comes from Riken, a Fuji Heavy spokesman said.
The company will continue production of other models until Saturday as there are enough piston rings in stock for the rest of this week.

Fuji Heavy will decide by the weekend what to do about production of minivehicles and other models next week, depending on prospects for how quickly Riken is likely to resume production.
The earthquake struck Japan's northwest coast Monday, killing nine elderly people, injuring more than 900 and causing a nuclear reactor to spill water containing radioactive material into the sea.


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...41ACDE2E460%7D

 

An employee of Toyota Motor Corp. inspects a Lexus vehicle after completion of assembly at the Tahara plant in Tahara, central Japan June 28, 2007. At least four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday they would suspend production after an earthquake hit the factories of a major parts supplier. (REUTERS/Kiyoshi Ota)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...upts_supplier/

 

*** THREADS MERGED ***

Original link:
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/0...yotaquake.html

Toyota Motor Co. is halting production at all its factories in Japan due to earthquake damage that has affected a major parts supplier.

Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said the problem is at auto-parts maker Riken Corp. in Kashiwazaki.

The city is the near the epicentre of Monday's magnitude-6.8 quake.

Riken supplies key transmission and engine parts to Toyota.

Nolasco said Toyota will reassess the situation later in the week before deciding whether to resume production Monday.

 

That's not going to bode well for those of us with special orders.

 

Honda and Nissan recently had to temporarily halt production in central Mexico after a rebel group we have here decided to bomb some Pemex plants causing danger to nearby industries.

 

This hopefully is temporary as the trickle-down effect will occur....ultimately affecting production of Toyota and Lexus vehicles here in North America and worldwide.

Short supply, high demand, higher prices.

 

YEah I read about how it hit the nuclear plant, I wasnt' even thinking about this.....

Thanks for the heads up

 

Didn't think about the higher prices.. glad I got my price locked in.

 

Lower stock price today.

 

Glad my mom got her LS460L 2 weeks ago, after waiting 5 months for it. Hopefully the halt in production is very short. In the interim maybe they can produce more of those 4.6l V8 engines for a GS460

 

Oh wow, hope prices won't be too high were people will not be buying

 

I don't think prices will be significantly affected. Frankly, I don't see why this is making such major headlines.

Toyota has idled Japanese production because of damage to a supplier plant for engine parts. So vehicles with affected engines are unable to be produced until either that plant becomes operational again, or another supplier can pick up the lost production. Right now, they've officially canceled three shifts worth of production at all 12 plants in Japan, which gives them time to build out current inventory and make it to the weekend, and be able to "re-evaluate" Monday morning. By that time, they'll have probably gotten another supplier to shift production to those critical parts and rebalanced other items as a temporary measure.

I don't think its going to be putting a major dent in anyone's plans.

 

the way japanese does Business, I don't think they will change major parts suppliers. They just can't. It is different over there.