Kyushu quakes hit Toyota

The Yomiuri Shimbun

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Toyota Motor Corp. stopped on Tuesday operations of its four finished-car factories in Aichi Prefecture and their related factories as they could not procure auto parts due to a series of earthquakes that hit Kumamoto Prefecture and its surroundings.

The latest earthquakes damaged auto parts giant Aisin Seiki Co.’s affiliated plants in Kumamoto Prefecture, which then became incapable of supplying door parts.

Toyota plans to suspend most of its domestic auto assembly factories in stages until Saturday. The suspensions may greatly affect the company’s business performance.

The Takaoka Plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, assembles vehicles including the Auris compact car. The plant stopped production lines of all vehicle classes from Tuesday morning.

Few parts-loading trucks or factory employees were seen at the entrance and parking lots of the plant.

“We never expected that the earthquakes [in Kyushu] would affect plants in Aichi Prefecture. I hope the damage won’t get any worse,” a male employee said.

Koichi Sugimoto, a senior analyst of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., estimates that the suspensions will affect a total of 63,500 Toyota cars including Lexus luxury cars, and that will drive down Toyota’s operating profit for the April-June quarter by more than ¥30 billion.

(THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN)