What appeared a week ago to be a serious, yet not extreme problem, slowly turns into yet another nightmare for the manufacturer that had to go through so much in recent years. The latest development, confirming the fears of some, came today from Japan. And the outlook is not encouraging.
For some undisclosed reason (Toyota said the plants were not structurally affected by the quake or tsunami, the only remaining reason being either the damaged infrastructure or the inability of suppliers to meet the demand), all facilities operated by Toyota, including subsidiary vehicle manufacturers will remain closed for the remainder of the week.
What's even more worrying for the industry is the fact that, a week+ after the disaster, Toyota is still unable to say when production is to be resumed. The only positive thing that took place in recent days was the partial reopening of the parts plants in Japan.
In the US, says Toyota, things go as planned. “All 13 North American vehicle and engine plants are running normally, although overtime has been curtailed to conserve parts that come from suppliers in Japan. Regarding dealerships in the U.S., inventories remain generally good,” the manufacturer says.
Meanwhile, GM is slowly dragged into the Japanese disaster, perhaps more than any other auto maker outside Japan. The car maker already announced the closure of some plants, the elimination of some shifts and even a program meant to help it cut cost and cope with the damages.
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