Automakers Reeling from Earthquake
Now as automakers are getting into Japan to survey the damage, it is worse than what most people expected. Toyota has said that they will close down their plants until Monday in order to figure out what they are going to do. Mitsubishi has always closed their plants until Tuesday, while Nissan and Infiniti have always followed the same route. For Toyota, they are finding that they are going to have to halt the shipment of virtually each Toyota that is shipped to the United States until they get the situation under control and can ensure that the plants can be ran without fear for employees safety.
All the automakers are closing in order to allow employees to regroup with relatives as the death toll continues to rise. Those that are close to the situation point out that phones lines are down and some roads are impassable. Automakers are relieved to say that no workers that were at their plants were injured when the quake and tsunami hit. So what are automakers going to have to access in order to make sure that they can reopen?
Right now the main concern is aftershocks, which are common after major earthquakes. The automakers want to make sure that the employees are going to be safe in the plant if they do reopen and an aftershock does occur. Aftershocks have been known to occur even weeks after the initial earthquake. In addition, they are not only going to have to worry about their plants and the safety of these buildings. But, they also have to make sure that suppliers are ready to supply them with the necessary parts that they need to even continue. As many suppliers are also suffering from the natural disaster.
What is this going to mean for the consumers of these automakers? It may mean that they are going to have to wait a bit longer for newer vehicles since plants like Toyota make almost half of their production in Japan.
