Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. said they will suspend all domestic production from Monday as parts supplies were cut off due to Friday's devastating earthquake.
Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. said they will suspend all domestic production from Monday as parts supplies were cut off due to Friday's devastating earthquake.
Honda Motor Co. said it will stop most of its domestic production.
Production in a host of other industries will also be curtailed because many factories in the Tohoku region of northern Japan were hit hard by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.
Toyota said Saturday it will suspend production in all its group companies on Monday because of a shortage of parts and components supplies.
The Miyagi plant of Primearth EV Energy Co., a Toyota affiliate that produces batteries for hybrid vehicles such as the Prius, has been unable to operate since the quake struck.
The Miyagi plant of Central Motor Co., a Toyota affiliate, shut down operations after the quake. Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc. stopped production on Saturday.
Nissan will stop operations of all domestic plants on Monday. Officials could not say when operations will resume.
The temblor, which devastated Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region, forced Nissan's Iwaki plant in Fukushima Prefecture to stop engine production.
Other Nissan plants and related parts suppliers in the Tohoku and Kanto regions have also been affected.
The suspensions cut off supplies of engines and other parts to Nissan Shatai Kyushu Co., in Fukuoka Prefecture, and other factories, according to company representatives.
Honda is to suspend production at all its domestic factories, except for the Kumamoto plant, on Monday.
There are also concerns that production of stainless steel in Japan may be stalled as Pacific Metals Co., the top supplier of its key material, ferronickel, has been forced to stop production at its Hachinohe plant in Aomori Prefecture.
It is Pacific Metals' only factory. The company produces 40,000 tons of ferronickel annually, about twice the output of the No. 2 firm.
Murata Manufacturing Co. has suspended operations at its plants in Sendai, Oyama in Tochigi Prefecture and Tome in Miyagi Prefecture.
The Sendai plant produces piezoelectric products and the Tome factory coil products, both of which are used to manufacture cellphone handsets.
Because Murata provides them to cellphone makers in Japan and abroad, a prolonged suspension could have a significant impact on handset production.