Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are temporarily halting production at their North American plants due to supply shortages of essential components amid the pandemic crisis, reports said. Crowded ports that import parts for their U.S. factories are also a concern.
Toyota will suspend production at some North American plants due to shortage of petrochemicals, and will intermittently cut shifts or production lines. Meanwhile, Honda will halt production at some of its U.S. and Canadian auto plants for the next one week due to supply-chain issues.
At Toyota, vehicle factories in Kentucky and Mexico, as well as an engine plant in Alabama will be affected by the supply chain issues. To deal with the shortage, the company is expected to intermittently cut shifts or production lines of certain vehicles including Camry and Avalon sedans, Tacoma pickup truck and RAV4 sport-utility vehicle. The company is not expecting to furlough any workers at present.
For Honda, shutdown is set to start at most of its five auto plants in the U.S. and Canada on March 22. The port issues, a shortage of semiconductors, pandemic-related problems and fallout from severe winter weather across the central U.S. jointly resulted in the decision to half the production. In some factories, the cold caused pipes to burst.
Meanwhile, Honda workers reportedly will continue to work at the impacted plants, despite production issues.
The global shortage of semiconductors and weak demand for cars during lockdown restrictions amid coronavirus pandemic have already hurt many automakers.
Earlier itself, Toyota, Honda and several other automakers including General Motors, Ford Motor, olkswagen, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler, and Nissan had warned about cuts or temporary plant shutdowns to deal with the issues.
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