Business – Earthquake in Japan: first consequences on the motorcycle industry – Used HONDA KAWASAKI SUZUKI YAMAHA

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Earthquake in Japan: first consequences for the motorcycle industry

Business - Earthquake in Japan: first consequences on the motorcycle industry - Used HONDA KAWASAKI SUZUKI YAMAHA

The earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Japan will not be without consequences on the activity of motorcycle manufacturers: Honda and Suzuki have closed their factories while Kawasaki and Yamaha, less directly affected, remember the Kobe disaster.. Interviews.

Honda and Suzuki issued two official statements this morning following the disastrous earthquake that hit northeastern Japan last Friday. The two manufacturers first send their sincere condolences to the victims and their families, and announce that they will stop their activities for several days..

Of the four Japanese manufacturers, Honda is arguably the most directly affected by the disaster: its motorcycle activities are based in Kunamoto, in the southwest, but the group’s headquarters are in Tokyo and two of its factories (Sayama and Ogawa) are located just an hour by motorbike from the center of the Japanese capital.

"On March 14, all production activities were suspended at the following Honda factories: Sayama (Sayama, Saitama), Ogawa (Ogawa-machi, Hiki-gun Saitama), Tochigi (Moka, Tochigi), Hamamatsu (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka) and Suzuka (Suzuka, Mie)", let know this morning the world number one.

Honda suspends operations in Japan

Honda will suspend the activities of these five factories from March 15 to 20, as well as that of Kumamoto (Ozu-machi, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto) in order to allow employees and their families to recover from the terrible earthquake..

The same will be true for its facilities in Tochigi, a region hit hard by the earthquake and now threatened by the Daiichi power plant located a hundred kilometers to the north….

The Reds also signal that they will release 300 million yen to support relief and reconstruction operations. Honda will also deliver 1,000 generators and 5,000 gas cartridges, and send qualified personnel to explain how it works..

At Honda France, where we currently have "received no official press release from Honda Japan or Honda Europe", it is therefore"difficult to comment or measure the implication of these terrible events", Sebastien Pernel tells Site:"a priori, the factory and the head office of Honda moto (located in Kunamoto, in the southwest of Japan) did not suffer any damage, because these structures are far from the epicenter of the earthquake".

Slowdown in industrial activity

On the other hand, "we already know, unfortunately, that this is not the case with one of our R&D centers (located in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, NDLR) where a fall of a wall caused the death of a Honda engineer and around 30 injured"…

"It is obviously still far too early to comment on the consequences of these tragic events on Honda’s two-wheeler production.", continues the spokesperson for the French subsidiary:"Japan and its people must first face this crisis (the most serious since World War II in the words of the Japanese Prime Minister, Editor’s note), especially since a second earthquake could strike Tokyo in the coming days"…

"However, we can already count on a slowdown in industrial activity in Japan for economic reasons on the one hand, but also logistical and energy reasons given the situation of the Fukushima power station and the strong "nuclear" dependence. from Japan (25 to 30% of Japan’s electricity production comes from nuclear power plants)".

Suzuki stops production

For its part, Suzuki – based further south in Hamamatsu, like Yamaha – has decided to close all its Japanese factories: "Suzuki has made the safety of all employees at subsidiaries and suppliers as well as their family members’ priority", solemnly declared the manufacturer this morning.

The production of motorcycles and scooters but also of cars, utility vehicles, marine engines and foundry parts is stopped at least until March 16 inclusive and "the rest of the operations from the 17th will be decided once the situation has been assessed", specifies Suzuki.

"The headquarters of Suzuki Moto and the factory that makes the engines are located in Hamamatsu, halfway between Tokyo and Osaka in the south. Also 50 km away is the Toyokawa Assembly Plant. These sites have so far not been affected by the earthquake and tsunami that hit further north, or by the failure of the nuclear power plants that provide the current. But routing and export difficulties are probably to be expected in the future.", indicate for their part Beatrice Leconte and François Etterle, spokespersons for Suzuki France interviewed by Site.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale, devastated the northeast of the country and mainly the Sendai region.

"Some subcontractors in the north of Hong-Shu Island where the incident occurred were directly victims", continues François Etterle:"if production were to be affected it would affect our supplies for late spring and early summer, but it is too early to tell today".

Yamaha affected in its nautical branch

On the Yamaha side, the first assessment of the disaster is reassuring: "our factories are mainly located in Iwata, 600 km south of Tokyo, so about 1000 km from the epicenter. Although the earthquake was felt very strongly at headquarters, the factories were operating normally on Friday and Monday", tells Site Eric de Seynes, CEO of Yamaha Motor France."However, we must comply with the government’s directives on energy and electricity savings.".

No human loss to be deplored at Yamaha Motor, but "on the other hand, there was very significant damage to certain distributors in the northeast of the country. The marinas and nautical centers were the most affected", continues Eric de Seynes:"however, the nautical yards in Japan only supply the national market, there will be no repercussions in Europe and France from this point of view".

Regarding motorcycles and scooters with three tuning forks, there will be no immediate consequence on the French market since the models planned for the coming months are already on the boats. "In addition, the ports that we have seen devastated on television are not the ones we use for freight.", adds the French big boss.

"Beyond the more or less significant material consequences depending on the region, it is the psychological trauma suffered by the population which is enormous.", underlines Eric de Seynes:"fortunately, we realize that the quality of Japanese education should allow them to manage this shock in an optimal way.".

In addition, Yamaha Motor France declares itself very touched by the number of messages of support which have been pouring in over the past few days "from dealers, customers and partners. We do our best to relay them to Japan".

The Kobe earthquake, which occurred on January 17, 1995, naturally remains anchored in all memories: "Hamamatsu and Iwata had been hit harder. We ask ourselves what will be, in 2011, the country’s capacity to manage logistical problems: roads, ports, transport, etc.."asks the head of Yamaha Motor France.

16 years after Kobe, Kawasaki remembers

At Kawasaki, no official statement has yet been made. But the French subsidiary, contacted by Site, wants to be relatively reassuring regarding the motorcycle activity of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI).

"The entire production of motorcycles made in Japan is ensured at the Akashi site, about thirty kilometers west of Kobe, the historic cradle of the brand (1st shipyard), and therefore located far from the epicenter. the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami", tells us the French team.

"With the notable exception of the (very recent) Honda factory built on the island of Kyu-Shu, Akashi’s production site is also the most "southern" geographically speaking. ", so that its activity should be less affected than that of its cousins.

Affected by the Kobe earthquake, Kawasaki knows only too well the direct and indirect consequences of such a natural disaster. "If at the time, the Akashi factory had been directly affected, this was then limited to relatively contained damage (cracks in buildings, disorganized production lines, etc.) but without complete destruction or collapse of units. production (which had not been the case for the Dunlop factory in Kobe, it completely destroyed)", remember the French Ninjas.

Amazing reaction and adaptation capacities of the Japanese

"At the time, the industrial and commercial consequences of the disaster on Kawasaki’s motorcycle activity were mainly due to supply difficulties on the part of certain subcontractors or suppliers more directly affected by the earthquake.", continues one of the Kawasaki France officials who visited the site,"which resulted in variable delays in the production of certain models, delays fortunately quickly absorbed (the astonishing capacity of reaction and adaptation of the Japanese to the worst situations)".

During a visit to the factory in the early 2000s, some traces remain "but limited, such as sealed cracks in some factory buildings"were observable."But it is true that in Kobe itself, the visitor was surprised by how the heart of the city had been completely rebuilt and rehabilitated in a very short time.".

Nuclear threat…

Except this time, the shadow of a nuclear disaster hangs over Japan … The Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange has plunged a little more than six points during its first session since the earthquake.

"Serious malfunctions at nuclear power plants in the ravaged region heighten fears about the repercussions of this disaster on all businesses and the Japanese economy", underlines AFP. What will happen in particular in the world of Japanese motorcycles? To be continued: stay connected…

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