As a result of the tsunami, a nuclear meltdown occurred and the effect on supply chains for the automobile industry was felt worldwide. This impact was not only felt by the factories and suppliers located in Japan. The ending result of this natural disaster will effect their entire supply chain throughout the world. Specifically mentioned are the manufacturers and suppliers of Toyota and Nissan will feel a negative impact on their production.
As a result of the tsunami and the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Toyota had to completely shut down all of its Japanese based plants. This caused a problem since their popular model the Prius is only built in Japan. Do to the perceived shortage, the dealerships increased the price of this model by $1800 within the first week after the tsunami and, within weeks, the dealers will be charging hundreds or thousands over sticker price to match demand. Nissan will look to find ways to continue production with a limited supply of parts. They will look to stop certain trim models and are will fly parts across the pacific instead of shipping them to help their supply of parts. This will enable them to keep factories working and production flowing, albeit at a higher cost.
The customers are not the only ones who will feel the effect of the disruption in the supply chain, the factory workers that work for a companies such as Venture Express, who makes seats for Nissan automobiles, will have to slow production on their product until the rest of the parts needed to make the product can be made and delivered. This potentially affects factory worker’s jobs in different parts of the world and until production begins to flow at the normal level some of these factory workers might be out of a job. Nissan is well aware of how important their supply chain is and they are providing assistance and help to its affected suppliers so