The 2012 Mazda 5 (image courtesy of Mazda)
The tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 has left the worldwide auto industry reeling—everything from spare parts, the microchips to entire cars have been harder to come by.
But at least in Mazda’s case, it appears that things are looking up.
On June 29, just over a month after the big quake, Mazda has announced that its Japanese assembly plants are back to “normal” operational levels. It’s come to the point where the manufacturer is claiming that by March 2012, it will have completed 900,000 units worldwide.
David Klan, Marketing Director of Mazda Canada, said in statement that “(o)ur return to normal production testifies to the courage and ingenuity of the Japanese people and our colleagues there.”
It’s a good example of how smaller, more agile companies are more apt to adjust and recover; big boys like Honda and Toyota are announcing delays that will take them into 2012 to fully recover. The timing couldn’t be worse for Honda as the next generation of its best-selling model, the Civic, made its debut this year.
{ 0 comments… add one now }