Japan loses half-million units in month since quake

TOKYO -- Production of more than a half million vehicles has been wiped out in Japan since the March 11 earthquake paralyzed the county's manufacturing sector.

Japan's big seven automakers lost 516,000 units of output as Japan marked the one month anniversary of the devastating March 11 quake. And the total is still climbing with many plants remaining offline until later this month and those that have restarted operating at only limited capacity due to parts shortages.

Toyota Motor Corp. leads the pack with lost volume of 260,000 units at its 18 domestic plants through April 8.

It has reopened only two of those plants, making three hybrid models, since closing them all after the temblor. Toyota aims to bring the rest online, but not until April 18 and then only through April 27.

Honda Motor Co. follows with forgoing output of roughly 58,000 units at its two Japanese asembly plants through April 8. It restarted production at both factories on April 11, but at only about half the normal output rate.

Nissan Motor Co., which has already reopened its five domestic plants and has been operting them in fits and starts with limited output, has lost about 55,000 vehicles. But that total does not include volume lost due to working at half pace. Nissan declined to provide that figure.

Suzuki Motor Corp.'s toll comes to 45,000 through March 31. It rises to 59,000 through April 9, if adding volume lost through half-pace production at the plants it has reopened.

Export-dependent Mazda Motor Corp. has seen 43,000 units of output in Japan vanish since the quake, while Subaru took a 29,000 unit hit through April 5.

Rounding out the domestic makers is Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which was one of the first to resume limited production by rotating down days at its three domestic assembly plants. It had lost 26,000 units through April 10.
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