Car supply not affected by Japan tsunami

Japanese factories experienced interruptions, but still able to deliver

The biggest natural disaster in Japan's history is unlikely to have a noticeable impact on the supply of new motor vehicles in Australia.

Almost half of Australia's imported cars come from Japan, the single biggest foreign source of motor vehicles ahead of Thailand and Korea.

Japanese companies contacted by the Carsales Network said they had experienced brief interruptions to production since the deadly earthquake and tsunami struck at the weekend.

Some factories were not affected at all. Others were closed for a few hours -- up to one full day -- because of intermittent power supply caused by the stoppage of several nuclear power stations. Or they were restricted by parts supply because of road closures.

All Japanese car makers we spoke to in Australia said there was enough local inventory to carry them through in the coming months and they expected the factories to return to normal operations within weeks.

Most Japanese car factories are located south of Tokyo; the areas most affected by the tsunami that followed an 8.9 richter scale earthquake were approximately 180km north of Tokyo.

Toyota Australia's senior executive director of sales and marketing, David Buttner, told the Carsales Network: "Of course our thoughts are with our Japanese friends, colleagues and neighbours, who are obviously going through an extremely difficult recovery mission right now. [But] as far as we can ascertain at this stage, production is continuing."

Mazda Australia marketing manager Alastair Doak said: "All of our factories are in the south of Japan, in and around Hiroshima. There are no disruptions that we are aware of."

Nissan shut all its Japanese factories and headquarters for one day on Monday but supply is likely to be unaffected. Nissan's two most popular models, the Micra small car and the Navara ute, come from Thailand. Most of Nissan's Japanese factories are in the south of Japan, away from the flood-affected areas.

The plant that makes the V6 engines for the Nissan GT-R and 370Z sports cars and the Murano 4WD is north of Tokyo, away from the coast, but may be affected for a few days by road closures near the disaster zone, Nissan Australia spokesman Jeff Fisher told the Carsales Network.

Most Honda factories in Japan are in the south of the country and likely to be unaffected. Although most Hondas sold in Australia now come from Thailand, the company still sources the Accord Euro sedan, Odyssey people mover, Civic and Insight hybrid cars and the luxury Legend from Japan.

Small-car specialist Suzuki expects it, too, will be unaffected as its factories are 650km away from the worst-hit parts of Japan. Its Alto small car comes from India, but the just released new Swift small car, SX4 softroader, Kizashi sedan and Grand Vitara 4WDs come from Japan.

"The issue will be transporting vehicles to ports and shipping them from the ports, but from what we understand the ports in the south of Japan that most car makers use are not affected," said Suzuki Australia spokesman Andrew Ellis.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...