Toyota plants shut by massive Japan quake

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have suspended production at plants in Japan today and were assessing damage after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast, triggering a tsunami and shaking buildings violently as far away as Tokyo.

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The shutdown could affect exports to the United States of such cars as the Toyota Yaris sedan, the Scion XB and Scion XD, as well as the Honda Fit small car.

Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, said it evacuated workers from several factories in the quake zone. Toyota has two parts plants in northern Japan and it has two affiliates, Kanto Auto Works, Ltd. and Central Motors Co., that assemble small cars in the region.

The immediate status of those plants was still being evaluated, Toyota spokesman Dion Corbett said. “We are still trying to get information from them,” he said.

Widespread damage

The quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time off the coast of Sendai north of the capital, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The tremor also triggered a tsunami that flooded coastal areas. Television footage showed cars being washed down flood zones like toys and large capsized cargo ships tossed sideways and jumbled together and pushed inland.

Aftershocks, many strong, rocked the region for hours afterward.

Toyota is one of the few Japanese automakers with a large manufacturing presence in northern Japan, a region it wants to make a center for small car production. In January, its Central Motors subsidiary opened an new assembly plant just an hour’s drive away from Sendai. That plant, with a capacity of 120,000 vehicles, makes the Yaris small car for export to the United States.

Toyota’s Kanto Auto Works has another assembly plant in the neighboring prefecture of Iwate. That plant also makes small cars, including the Yaris sedan, the Scion XB and Scion XD for export. The Toyota parent company has two parts plants in the region as well.

“As for production from here out, we will make a decision after we get a handle on the situation,” Corbett said, about when the northern plants would reopen.

Toyota plants near the company’s headquarters in Toyota City, in central Japan, had resumed production as normal after brief shutdowns, Corbett said. There were no reports of injuries from those factories. Possible damage was still being assessed.

Honda and suppliers

Toyota was also confirming damage at its suppliers. Toyota Boshoku Corp. and Denso Corp., two of Toyota’s biggest parts makers, both reportedly suffered some plant damage.

Honda shut down two assembly plants immediately after the temblor, spokesman Keitaro Yamamoto said. Honda’s Suzuka plant in central Japan soon resumed production.

But the company’s Sayama plant, north of Tokyo and closer to the epicenter, remained shut down by late Friday evening. Yamamoto said Honda headquarters was having difficulty contacting its plants. The U.S.-bound Fit is among the cars produced at Sayama.

Yamamoto said the company was unsure when production would resume there.

At Honda’s r&d center in Tochigi prefecture, one person died and 30 were injured when the quake toppled a wall at the facility’s cafeteria. No other injuries were reported.

AN