Toyota, Honda May Not Recover Output Until ’12

Plans by Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Honda Motor Co. to run factories overtime to recoup production lost to parts shortages caused by Japan’s earthquake may be delayed until early 2012 because of flooding in Thailand.

Toyota, Asia’s biggest carmaker, is scaling back output in Japan for a third week and suspended overtime in North America for a second week as disruptions from the floods spread. Honda is temporarily eliminating overtime and running North American plants at half capacity until next week as Japan’s third-largest automaker assesses its inventory.

“For both Toyota and Honda, they really won’t be able to expand production as planned until the first quarter of 2012,” said Tracy Handler, a Troy, Michigan-based analyst with IHS Automotive. “They’ve certainly been really unlucky this year.”

Thailand’s floods are the biggest auto industry disruption since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which cut vehicle production for Toyota and Honda for five months, and prompted Honda to abandon its earnings forecasts. Plants in Thailand may be halted until December, according to the Federation of Thai Industries’ automotive club.

Toyota, scheduled to report financial results next week, said it hasn’t decided on its production plans from Nov. 14 onward as it continues to assess the situation.

Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota’s North American manufacturing unit, and Ron Lietzke, a spokesman with Honda’s factory unit in Marysville, Ohio, both said the companies are still reviewing parts supplies and aren’t discussing production plans beyond mid-November.
Ford Suppliers

Separately, Ford Motor Co. (F) told suppliers it will resume car assembly at its Auto Alliance Thailand factory on Nov. 14 after flooding disrupted production, Todd Nissen, a spokesman for the U.S. automaker, said in an e-mail.

Suppliers will be updated Nov. 17 about restarting truck production, he said. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford owns 50 percent of Auto Alliance Thailand in Rayong and the rest is held by Mazda Motor Corp. (7261) and a local affiliate of the Hiroshima, Japan-based company, according to a Ford website.
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