Japan carmakers may consider rotating output to save energy: Toyota

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FE Team | Published: March 28, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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OSAKA, Mar 27 (Bloomberg): Japanese carmakers, facing electricity shortages after the nation's record earthquake crippled power plants, may consider measures including rotating production to save energy, Toyota Motor Corporation said. Taking turns running assembly lines is among the measures that should be considered as automakers coordinate efforts through their main industry group, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Masami Doi, a spokesman for Toyota, said Sunday by phone. Manufacturers face a cut in summer power supply of about 15 per cent after the March 11 temblor knocked out generators, curbing growth in the world's third-largest economy. Plant damage and power outages have forced carmakers including Toyota and Honda Motor Co to halt domestic car assembly, causing Toyota to lose an estimated 140,000 units of production so far. Automakers are expected to meet 'shortly' to discuss a rotation schedule, as they seek to avoid scheduled blackouts in exchange for reducing their power use, Kyodo reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. Other industries may take similar measures, Kyodo said. Toyota's Doi said no measures had been decided yet. Toshitake Inoshita, a spokesman for Nissan Motor Co, Japan's second-largest carmaker, said no discussions have taken place about rotating production or any other detailed plans. The auto industry will cooperate as much as possible to save power, Inoshita said by phone. The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic plant, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986 and limiting electricity supply to the country's most industrialized area.