Toyota to shut down plants in N. America

The news at Toyota says it will shut North American plants - Yahoo! Finance doesn't sound as dire. It "says the length of the shutdowns is unknown and depends on how fast earthquake-damaged Japanese parts factories get back in operation."

Maybe this thread should go under Other Cars since no Priuses are made in North America but the HyCam is assembled in the US.

 

What is the difference between
"plants shut down indefinitely due to parts shortages," and
"plants back up and running as soon as parts available."

The best one can hope for out of faux news is spin. Usually it is just propaganda.

 

I think it's more of a feel good thing (you know the truth hurts kind of thing).. I agree with you though. Would rather just hear it straight instead of all the spin. Tell it how it is and we'll all move forward from there.

 

The End Is Near

GM SUVs will takeover the world. Global warming, CO2 emissions, ozone destruction, fossil fuel depletion, and lack of fuel for farming and transportation will seal a certain human demise.

 

According to the Toyota Geogetown, Ky. web site there is no planned shut down right now but they are worried about future suplly interuptions

 

Chinese parts are starting to look better every day.

 

If the Japanese can rebuild an earthquake destroyed highway in only 6 days, believe me, their auto production will be back up to 95% or better very soon. Its their pride in their GNP that is at stake. Won't be long.

When I asked at the Chicago v event about how the disaster will affect the new Prius' production, I was told that the v introduction in Japan will be delayed a few weeks, but the intro in North America should happen as planned with no delay. I was told "They will make it happen."

 

if you watch pbs and the hundreds of thousands of people who are homeless, you won't expect factories to be up and running too soon.

 

or put another way . . . even powdered milk, Velveta, and spam sandwiches are fit for royalty, when you're starving.

 

Besides that, even if not homeless (or worse), I'm sure some workers couldn't get to work due to damaged roads. Also, suppliers might not have been able to deliver raw materials or components to either Toyota or its suppliers.

 

Toyota HQ press release on April 6th...
http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/announcement/110406_2.pdf
"As for Toyota production facilities outside Japan, in principle, such facilities intend to continue operations by making adjustments through no overtime and no working on scheduled days off. Specifically, contrary to recent reports, there has been no decision to halt ongoing vehicle production in North America."

Ken@Japan

 

I suppose I am the eternal pessimist in the view of many, but I think Toyota, specifically; and Japan, in general are in trouble.

Toyota mishandled the "out of control Prius" recall scandal HORRIBLY! Toyota admin allowed an unfriendly govt and media whip up hysteria without any factual proof of a defect that would cause a Prius to accelerate out of control. Toyota should have fought the hysteria with paid, full page ads in the very media that was/is determined to damage Toyota and bolster Obamamobile sales.

Japan was judged to be one of ten countries to be on the verge of financial collapse BEFORE the earthquake. Unemployment was at 19% before the quake, and despite reconstruction is not dropping. Now, though Nissan and Honda seem to be stable, Toyota cannot supply "parts" (?) to its US factories? Huh? Why? Is not Japan supportive of its auto conglomerates? Or is it that Toyota is mismanaged while Honda is not?

I have way more questions than answers, and I'm sure some will challenge my interpretation, etc., but all I'm saying is that I believe Toyota is in serious trouble. As much as I like my 08 Prius, I absolutely would not buy another Toyota, now. Besides, in the three years I have owned it, my Prius has depreciated by exactly 50% (KBB says its worth $13K; I paid $26K).

Just my $00.02 worth.

 

Japan has a problem of an aging population, low birth rate, being in recession for a long time, sluggish economic growth and IIRC, a large amount of debt but I'd never heard of it being the verge of financial collapse immediately prior to the March 2011 disaster. I don't know where you've gotten 19% unemployment rate from.

Japan’s Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 4.9%; Payrolls Climb - Businessweek has a fairly current number.

From your post, it seems you have a vendetta against Toyota or something. Honda and Nissan also have problems w/supply and flow of parts. See these for example:
Honda's Woes Show How A Single Part Can Stop Production - Driver's Seat - WSJ
Nissan halves production at Swindon plant becaus of Japan crisis | Mail Online
Nissan to idle production plants because of Japan parts shortages | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Nissan to suspend production at UK plant for 3 days: Report - The Economic Times
Nissan/Infiniti News Room
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/08/nissan-factories-smyrna-decherd-react-quake/
Nissan/Infiniti News Room
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/128821/20110331/nissan-to-resume-output-at-japan-plants-mid-april.htm
http://www.masslive.com/business-ne...nissan_wrecked_plant_in_japan_wont_resum.html

Whether an automaker is affected depends on a lot of things such as who the suppliers are, whether the supplier is affected, whether there are alternate qualified sources, transportation networks, the automaker's own plants, etc.

Think for a minute. Suppliers themselves depend on other suppliers for smaller parts or raw materials. The supplier's plant could be damaged or destroyed, workers might not be able to get to work (or are dead) and roads could be damaged/impassable preventing the flow of outgoing parts or incoming parts/raw materials. There could be no power or power outages due to the power shortage caused by TEPCO having lost at least 20% of its generating capacity.

I'm not sure why you put "parts" in quotes. It sounds like you've never visited an auto factory before. I've toured 3 plants in Japan (Toyota, Nissan, Mazda), and 2 in the US (NUMMI and Ford Rouge). Auto plants do not take in raw materials on one end (making everything from steel from iron ore to their own fasteners, light bulbs, switches, tires, etc.) and spit out a car on the other. From articles like http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-03-16/news/28701270_1_hybrid-batteries-supply-chain-suppliers

If you've visited Tokyo Motor Show (I've attended 3x), you'll see there are TONS of suppliers that you might be unaware of. See http://www.tokyo-motorshow.com/show/2007/eng/public/booth/exhibitor_parts.html, for example. I saw one company making showing gauge clusters being supplied to many other automakers, CV joints and valves on display, interior door panels being made by another company for my Z, Aisin and Jatco showing transmissions, Calsonic and Denso producing all sorts of parts, lots of electronic parts from Hitachi, etc. I posted about Hitachi at http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...isaster-affect-parts-avail-3.html#post1296017.

If you look next to the battery door of your SKS fob, you'll notice it's made by http://www.tokai-rika.co.jp/en/index.html. Notice the types of parts they supply at http://www.tokai-rika.co.jp/en/products/vehicle/index.html. Did you know that your Prius' instrument panel was made by http://www.yazaki-na.com/product/index.asp?fuseaction=display&gp=intrumentation&p=display? I took some pictures at the Yazaki booth at the 05 Tokyo Motor Show. See https://picasaweb.google.com/105684...?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWWlaXN3czfHA&feat=directlink. Take a look at the types of parts made by http://www.globaldensoproducts.com/. They make a lot of parts that go into Toyotas.

Please look at http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...ion-whats-really-made-in-america-feature.html to see the % of US/Canada part content in NA built Toyotas, like in Kentucky and Indiana. Unfortunately, it doesn't list the Japanese part content percentages. However, if 1 necessary part is missing and there's no alternate source, they can't build a car.

 

To add more supporting data to show that Honda isn't immune, see http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110407/RETAIL01/110409909/1329.

Also from http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110408/OEM10/110409902/1329#ixzz1Iwa23yEm,

Red Solitaire might also find http://priuschat.com/forums/other-cars/92411-japanese-parts-paralysis-lack-chips-cars-can-cost-76-billion.html and going thru a few pages of http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/category/news-blog/suppliers/ insightful.