Japan’s leading automakers have said that domestic production plummeted in March after the massive quake and tsunami, which shut off parts supplies and led to widespread power shortages. Toyota, Nissan and Honda all reported massive falls in output due to the disaster and ratings agency Standard & Poor’s revised from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ its outlook for the trio. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, said production in Japan plunged 62.7 percent year on year in March, putting it in danger of falling this year from the global top spot it claimed from General Motors in 2008.
Domestic output slumped to 129,491 vehicles, which Kyodo News agency said was the lowest since records began in January 1976. Toyota’s worldwide production fell 29.9 percent to 542,465 vehicles while output at its Daihatsu and Hino subsidiaries was also sharply lower. The March 11 disasters damaged production facilities and atomic power plants in northeast Japan, triggering the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and electricity shortages and supply chain disruptions in Japan and worldwide. Toyota was forced to temporarily close plants and reduce output domestically and in the United States, European Union, China and Australia, running some facilities at half-capacity or less.
Nissan said production at home fell 52.4 percent year on year in March due to the effects of the quake and the termination of a government subsidy programme for environmentally-friendly vehicles. Domestic production slid to 47,590 units, in contrast to its global output which in March increased 9.0 percent year on year to 382,704 units. Nissan said the figure was a record for the month. The domestic picture was similar at Honda Motor, which reported output plunged 62.9 percent year on year in March while worldwide total production was down 19.2 percent at 282,254 units. For the fiscal year to the end of March 2011, worldwide production was up 8.2 percent at 3,575,362 units compared with the previous year, Honda said.
