Mitsubishi April New Car Production Down 40% from Target

Mitsubishi today announced that it expects April 2011 production figures to only reach about 60% of the planned numbers. The main causal factor, of course, has been the earthquake of March 11th, which not only stopped production, but also lead to a shortage of parts as suppliers’ facilities were also damaged and the supply chain thrown into disarray.

What is interesting about this story is that Mitsubishi expects that from April 18th to the end of the month, Mitsubishi is expecting production to return to 90% of projected numbers.

There is also a possibility that Mitsubishi, along with other automakers, will consider keeping manufacturing operations running through Golden Week (the holiday in Japan that covers the final days of April and the first few days of May), although it seems that this option is still under review while the parts supply situation is assessed.

I think Mitsubishi’s numbers are probably indicative of the wider new car manufacturing sector in general. I am impressed that they are bouncing back to almost full capacity so quickly, and the option of keeping production running through Golden Week could also allow them to catch up somewhat with demand.

Source: Reuters (Japanese-language)