On March 14 following the destroying tsunami, Toyota Motor Co said that it plans to suspend all production in Japan at least until March 16. Last Friday, April 15, or more than a month after the tsunami tragedy, Toyota renewed its foresight of a prospect threatening nightmare by saying it will build cars *at half the rate* of its original plans in Japan *at least until June 3* in a move estimated to cost the world's biggest automaker *another 120,000 vehicles in lost* production. ( http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/11/04/0415_2.html)
WSJ Japanese automakers have been hammered by a shortage of hundreds of components after factories in the northeast of the country were damaged by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11. Toyota, Honda Motor Co , Nissan Motor Co and even some overseas rivals such as General Motors Co have had to stop or reduce production since then and investors have punished Japanese auto stocks because a full recovery in manufacturing activities is expected to take months. "*We are not convinced that near-term earnings risk is fully reflected in (Toyota's) share price*," J.P. Morgan analyst Kohei Takahashi said on Friday. Shares in Toyota have lost 11 percent since March 10 versus the 9.6 percent drop in Tokyo's main TOPIX index. Honda has lost 12 percent and Nissan has shed 11 percent. Toyota's shares fell 0.9 percent Friday. Many auto analysts have slashed their earnings forecasts for Toyota for the business year that started this month, assuming a global output decline of about 40 percent in the six months to September. The situation with financial prospect of Toyota can not be exaggeratedly worse as it says to delay its announcement of this year's earnings forecasts. Toyota usually announces full-year forecasts along with its earnings results, which are due on May 11 for the fourth quarter and the financial year that ended last month. The Nikkei business daily reported on Friday that Toyota had decided to put off announcing the projections until later in May. Toyota itself said nothing had been decided. Plans beyond June 3 will be determined based on parts availability. Toyota is still having trouble procuring about 150 parts, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said. A major bottleneck has come from damage to a factory belonging to Renesas Electronics , which sells about 40 percent of all automotive microcontrollers globally. With Renesas flagging a resumption of a key factory only by July, car production is expected to remain disrupted for some time. '+'
