American plants produce most of the Japanese models sold in the United States, but a number of small and hybrid models are produced in Japan and shipped to the U.S., including Toyota’s best-selling Prius hybrid.
Kendle noted the Prius is a “low-supply car to begin with” so any interruption in the supply chain could make them even harder to find and curb dealers’ willingness to offer discounts and incentives on the models.
Most Japanese auto plants will remain closed at least through Wednesday as the three major automakers there — Toyota, Nissan and Honda — assess the condition of their plants and allow workers time to recover from the disaster.
Company officials said Toyota would lose output of about 40,000 vehicles worldwide, while Honda — which has suspended production through Sunday — put its estimate at 16,600 vehicles and 2,000 motorcycles.
U.S. production so far has been unaffected, but manufacturers here remain cautious.
“Our North American production is fine for now,” said Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Northern Kentucky. “But at some point, unless production resumes quickly in Japan, we could run short of some key parts. In fact, we’re eliminating overtime (at 13 North American assembly and parts plants) so we don’t burn through parts too quickly.”
The availability of parts is a key issue for U.S. automakers who get most of their parts from North American suppliers, but also rely on components imported from Japan.
“There is no immediate impact on operations here in Ohio or in North America because we have an extensive supply chain in North America,” said Ron Lietzke, a spokesman for Honda of America Manufacturing, which employs 13,000 in Ohio, including 4,200 at its plant in Marysville. “We do have some parts that come from Japan, and we’re evaluating how any disruption of the supply chain in Japan might affect our operations down the road.”
“Right now, most dealers in the area have a pretty good inventory on the ground, but ... we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Dan Nagel, new car sales manager for White-Allen Honda on North Main Street in Dayton.
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