Toyota plants shut down after earthquake;

Toyota and other Japanese plants have been shut down after the earthquake in Japan. Toyota models can be purchased from Bremerton Used Cars dealerships. The earthquake will affect shipments of Japanese models such as Toyota and Honda to dealerships such as Honda Dealership MS. Subaru plants were also shut down due to the earthquake. It is not known how long the delayed shipments will affect Honda Dealers Louisiana and other dealerships, but it is known that the dealerships will be affected for some time.

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake has affected several businesses in Japan including the automotive business. There are certain models which are more likely to be affected including the Toyota Yaris, Scion XB, and Honda Fit models. Acura and Infiniti model production will also be affected by the earthquakes. Toyota is one of the largest employers in Japan, and the company evacuated several thousand workers in the quake zone. The company has two plants in Northern Japan, the region which was the hardest hit by the earthquake, and the company is currently evaluating the state of these plants.

Toyota is one of the few automakers with a presence in Northern Japan, which is why the earthquakes have affected Toyota more than other automakers. Toyota intended on making northern Japan a center for automobile production. Honda also shut down two plants after the earthquakes. Aftershocks continued for several hours after the earthquakes and have made it dangerous to travel and to evaluate the extent of the damage at these factories. Honda had at least one death and there were fires reported at Nissan. Nissan suspended operations at some of its Eastern Japanese production plants as well. It is unclear when automobile production will resume for Toyota, Honda, and Nissan at the affected factories, however these companies own factories in many other parts of the world.

Honda Output Hit By Strikes;

Honda Motor Co. announced that they are experiencing lower production due to the shutdown of Chinese factories that have been involved in a recent strike. Production fell 15.7 percent in May, and may continue to stay at below normal levels until an agreement is reached between Honda and the workers. Competitors like Ford and Buick whose models can be found at a Cincinnati Ford Dealer or a Birmingham Buick GMC dealer have been unaffected by the strikes.

Honda has four manufacturing plants in China and there have been strikes at different plants throughout the past few weeks. Volkswagen whose cars can be purchased at a VW dealer was not affected by any of the strikes. The strikes were triggered by one strike at a transmissions plant that resulted in Honda negotiating an agreement with workers. The agreement resulted in higher wages for workers along with more benefits. As a result, several other workers groups attempted to get similar results and hosted strikes of their own.

Pressures in China have been mounting due to low wages, rough management at some factories, long hours, and poor working conditions. Workers have expressed discontent as living costs have been increasing in China while wages have remained stable or decreased.

Toyota and Nissan, who are both rival Japanese automakers, increased their productions for May. Toyota was also hit by strikes in China but the strikes did not decrease production for the company. There is not anticipated to be any economic impact to Honda from the lowered production.

Once an agreement is reached, production levels will likely return back to normal. In the mean time, Honda may increased production at other factories in order to compensate for the lessened production if necessary. Honda built a total of 37,367 cars in May. The company also stopped production during a few days in June.