Japan Quake Stops Yaris Production for Another Month

Toyota’s quake-hit Miyagi plant that makes the Yaris compact for export to the United States should be offline for at least another month, according to Automotive News. While the plant has had repairs completed and electricity has returned, the supply of natural gas has not been restored.

Toyota’s other plants are expected to remain closed until at least April 14th, but the Yaris plant in Miyagi prefecture will stay shuttered until the end of April. Meanwhile, production of the Prius hybrid has been resumed, but only at 50 percent capacity. However, the rest of its 18 domestic plants will stay shut for an undetermined period of time.

Toyota released a statement claiming that, “depending on vehicle type, there may be a significant impact on our production capabilities.” The main issue is the lack of gas, but a company source says the automaker is trying to secure a gas supply from neighboring regions. Parts supplies also remain an issue, and the company is attempting to resolve these problems from their Toyota City headquarters.

"We are searching for alternative sources, including gas from Niigata," the source said, referring to a nearby prefecture. "But that would also take about one month to arrange."

To solve the parts issue, management of the needed components is being managed centrally by Toyota headquarters in Toyota City. They are organizing deliveries and production on a case by case basis for each factory and still trying to determine when full production can resume.

Toyota and the other Japanese automakers have been struggling to recover from the deadly quake that killed more than 11,000 people, ruptured gas lines, crippled electric grids and logistics across a large portion of the country.