Nissan, Toyota production at plants in Japan paused due to earthquake-affected parts supply – report

Nissan halted production at its Oppama and Shonan plants in Japan for two days this week due to an earthquake that hit one of its suppliers on February 13, Nikkei Asia reported.

Production was stopped on Monday and Tuesday for the Oppama plant, which produces the Note, and at its subsidiary Nissan Shatai’s Shonan plant, which produces variants of the NV200 as well as the Patrol pick-up truck.

The supplier affected is Hitachi subsidiary, Hitachi Astemo, which supplies suspension parts to the Nissan plants. Parts supply was interrupted due to the earthquake, which led to a power outage at the Hitachi Astemo plant; the supply interruption also affected Toyota, forcing the manufacturer to suspend production at 14 of its assembly lines in Japan for up to four days from February 17.

According to Automotive News, the parts supply disruption affects production lines for models such as the Toyota RAV4, C-HR and Harrier, while affected Lexus models include the LS and IS sedans, RC and LC two-door models, in addition to LX, NX, UX and RX SUVs. However, the supply chain issues were not expected to affect Toyota’s overseas production, the report said.

Toyota had not disclosed which parts or suppliers were affected by the earthquake, said Automotive News, however the parts involved are not semiconductors, Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said. By contrast, there is an ongoing global shortage of microchips for automotive applications, and a key semiconductor plant in Japan has, in fact, reduced its output due to the earthquake, according to the report.

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.