Nissan Motor Co said yesterday it might suspend production in the US and Mexico due to a delay in the delivery of engine control units, after announcing it would interrupt output in Japan.
“We are verifying inventories and are considering appropriate responses,” Nissan chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga told reporters.
Nissan has three US plants that have a total output capacity of 950,000 vehicles every year. In Mexico it has four manufacturing and distribution facilities with an annual production capacity of more than 300,000 units. Japan’s third-largest car maker said on Monday it would temporarily halt production lines at home for three days starting today after supplier Hitachi Automotive Systems could not deliver the parts on time.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Hitachi said it could not receive a type of custom integrated circuit, a main component of the engine control unit, in time from a supplier, without identifying that company. The suspension affects about 15,000 units in Japan.
“It is a random and unexpected case. We do not have another immediate solution, but in the future I hope that we will be prepared to respond to this kind of urgent situation,” Shiga said.
The delay is also affecting Honda and Fuji Heavy Industries — the company behind the Subaru brand — although 90 percent of the parts are used to supply Nissan.
Nissan yesterday also took the wraps off its new March subcompact, which is being manufactured in Thailand for sale in Japan.
Nissan said it was setting up a special inspection facility at its Oppama plant in Japan, which used to make the model, to do additional quality checks on the Thai-made March to ensure it makes the cut with notoriously finicky Japanese customers.
“We are not hiding that this was made in Thailand,” Shiga said in answer to a reporter’s question on why his presentation had focused on the car’s green features, not where it was made.
“It is important to deliver value to customers wherever we make our products,” he said.
The March, previously been made in the UK, will now also be made in India, where it will be exported to more than 100 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The model — called the Micra in Europe, India and Australia — will be produced in Mexico and China as well.
The March starts in Japan at ¥999,600 (US$11,000).
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