Car manufacturing halted in Japan

The Japanese car manufacturing industry has stopped production in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.

In the wake of the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that struck Japan last week, the domestic car industry has ground to a halt.

Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi have all now said they are halting all production until at least Wednesday in order to allow time to address damage, and to allow staff to make contact with family in affected areas.

But it’s not just the damage to plants that’s the problem. Motor manufacturing relies on a huge number of external suppliers, and the loss of availability of just one part can bring production to a halt.

Honda, for example, has 113 parts suppliers and has still been unable to make contact with 44 based inside the worst affected areas.

But even when production does resume there are still going to be difficulties. Exports could be seriously hit as ports are badly damaged.

And it’s not just the export of finished cars that’s the problem – it’s parts too. Although Japan has retained much of its production at home it has many manufacturing units overseas and, although parts are often locally sourced, many come from Japan.

In the UK, Honda has said that they currently have no difficulties with production at Swindon but that they are carefully monitoring the situation. We have no statement from Nissan in Sunderland.

But really, the loss of production is insignificant in comparison to the human tragedy unfolding in Japan.

Note: If you feel moved to make a donation to help the Tsunami relief in Japan, you can do so through the Red Cross.