Effects Of Earthquake In Japan On Several Car Makers

By Author: Marty Vergel Baes
Total Articles: 423
Comment this article

The strongest earthquake in Japan has caused a lot of negative effects on the production of vehicles worldwide. This is because Japanese car makers are considered to be one of the major car makers in the world. Since most of these Japanese car manufacturers’ assembling plants and vehicle component sources are located on the areas in Japan that were hit by the earthquake, the over-all vehicle production has greatly suffered. Due to this, it is expected that the number of cars produced and the number of auto financing offers will change.
In case you are currently searching for a vehicle by using some of the popular online new car finder, you need to be aware of the quake’s effects on several car makers for this could help you in doing the car selection process. To provide you with information, here are some of the highlights of the earthquake’s effects.

1. Effects on Toyota Motors’ production

Toyota is one of the Japanese car makers that were greatly affected by the strongest earthquake ...
... in Japan which happened last March 2011. Its production was halted since some of their component suppliers’ plants were damaged by the natural calamity which struck Japan. Right after the earthquake, Toyota lacked 500 types of components which prevented them from producing vehicles such as the iQ microcar and the Prius V.

The effect of the earthquake on some of Toyota’s assembling and suppliers’ plants as well as the reduction of their vehicle production might cause General Motors to claim Toyota’s position as the biggest car maker in the world in terms of volume for this year.

2. Effects on South Korean and American car makers

The earthquake in Japan last March has somehow benefitted South Korean car makers such as Hyundai and Kia. This was simply proven by the increase in sales of these car makers last month which was estimated to be around 40% to 57% compared to their previous year’s figures.

American car makers have also obtained a 3.2% increase in its market share in the previous month. However, this doesn’t mean that this was solely caused by the quake. This could also be caused by the intensification of the 3 Detroit-based car makers’ effort of providing the best new car deals to potential buyers.