Parts Shortage affects Car Production
Japan’s quake affected automobile industry and major car manufacturer has shortage in spare parts. In India, auto experts think it may not affect because of localization of supply and small dependence on Japan, as some parts coming from Thailand. Japanese carmakers Suzuki and Honda were anticipating similar problems in sourcing critical parts from home companies.
Toyota is more affected than others because it builds a larger percentage of its vehicles in Japan. Honda, Nissan and Suzuki-are all planning aggressive strategies for India’s top growth market.
Today India announced cuts production. It will cut production at its 13 North American plants by 75 percent in the next six weeks. Those plants build about 70 percent of the vehicles Toyota sells in North America.
Honda Siel Cars expects some production bottleneck from May, when its stock of critical parts could go dry. Suzuki, which operates in India through Maruti Suzuki, may face problems from tier-II supplies.
There are reports state that Volkswagen, BMW and Porsche have all commented that suppliers are having problems as demand for German cars booms in the United States and China.