Honda, Nissan and Mazda suspend China output after anti-Japanese protests
Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. suspended production in China in the wake of anti-Japan protests over the weekend in response to a territorial dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.
Honda spokeswoman Natsuno Asanuma said the Japanese company is suspending output on Tuesday and Wednesday at two factories each in the southern China city of Guangzhou and the central city of Wuhan.
The four plants, run jointly with Chinese partners, have production capacity totaling 820,000 cars a year, she said. "We have decided to suspend production for two days" in the wake of the heightened tensions between China and Japan, Asanuma said.
"Our dealers are not in a position to receive car allocations currently," she said, referring to attacks on some of those stores by protesters over the weekend.
Mazda will temporarily halt production at its Nanjing assembly plant, which it jointly operates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Ford Motor Co., a company spokesman said on Monday, following the anti-Japanese protests in the country. The factory will be closed for four days starting Tuesday, Mazda spokesman Naoto Oikawa said.
Nissan halts production
Likewise, Nissan suspended production on Monday and Tuesday at two factories each in the southern China city of Guangzhou and the central city of Zhengzhou, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
"Nissan suspended production in cities where the protests were severe," said one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Fujio Cho will fly to China on September 22 in an effort to ease the impact of rising tensions between Japan and China on Japanese automakers, China News Service reported, citing Japanese news agency Kyodo news service.
Cho and other Japanese auto executives will hold talks with government officials and visit several Chinese cities in order to restore bilateral trust, according to China News Service, a Beijing-based official news agency.
"The Toyota chairman and the delegation of Japanese company executives he will lead want to express goodwill for the Chinese government and Chinese consumers, but it is unknown whether Chinese consumers will accept it," the Chinese news agency said.
Despite Cho's concern about anti-Japanese sentiment, Toyota's offices and factories were operating as usual on Monday in China. Toyota was still checking which dealership stores were affected, said spokesman Joichi Tachikawa, adding the company has not ordered home its Japanese employees in China.
However, the anti-Japan protests may cause significant damage to Japanese automakers, predicts the China Automobile Dealers Association.
Many dealerships in China that sell Japanese cars have shut for now after some outlets were attacked and vandalized, according to Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of the state-backed dealership group.
Besides those boycotting Japanese goods, most Chinese citizens won't dare to buy Japanese-brand cars because of safety concerns, Luo said.
"The impact caused by natural disasters can be fixed quickly, while it takes a longer time and efforts to make hostile sentiment against Japanese cars go away," Luo said, declining to quantify the damage because losses are still being tallied.
"I have worked at the association for ten years and this round of losses suffered by Japanese car dealers is the worst I've seen."
A territorial dispute between China and Japan worsened as thousands protested in Chinese cities over the weekend in the worst flare-up of tensions between Asia's two largest economies since 2005.
Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. reported damage to their operations from fire, a Honda Civic was set ablaze in front of a dealership in Shanghai, while demonstrators handed out fliers listing names of Japanese brands to boycott.
Bilateral tensions
"The longer the conflict between China and Japan lasts, the more this anti-Japanese sentiment will spread among ordinary consumers," said Klaus Paur, Shanghai-based global head of automotive at researcher Ipsos. "In this politically sensitive situation, Japanese manufacturers have to reduce marketing as well as communication activities..."
Still, neither Japan nor China is interested in a serious conflict, which means Japanese brands in China can avoid long-term damage, he said.
Over the weekend, TV news showed Japanese cars being overturned and windshields smashed by demonstrators in some cities.
Photos posted on online forums showed Toyota cars with the brand badges covered with logos of Chinese carmakers such as BYD Co., while some Japanese car dealerships hung Chinese flags and banners proclaiming patriotism for China.
A Toyota dealership was set on fire in the eastern city of Qingdao, the company said.
Sales of Japanese-branded passenger cars fell last month in China, compared with gains of more than 10 percent for German, American and South Korean vehicles, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Nissan, the biggest Japanese automaker by sales in China, said on Sept. 6 that deliveries in the country have been affected as it cut back on marketing events in the wake of anti-Japan demonstrations that started last month.
The four plants, run jointly with Chinese partners, have production capacity totaling 820,000 cars a year, she said. "We have decided to suspend production for two days" in the wake of the heightened tensions between China and Japan, Asanuma said.
"Our dealers are not in a position to receive car allocations currently," she said, referring to attacks on some of those stores by protesters over the weekend.
Mazda will temporarily halt production at its Nanjing assembly plant, which it jointly operates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Ford Motor Co., a company spokesman said on Monday, following the anti-Japanese protests in the country. The factory will be closed for four days starting Tuesday, Mazda spokesman Naoto Oikawa said.
Nissan halts production
Likewise, Nissan suspended production on Monday and Tuesday at two factories each in the southern China city of Guangzhou and the central city of Zhengzhou, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
"Nissan suspended production in cities where the protests were severe," said one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Fujio Cho will fly to China on September 22 in an effort to ease the impact of rising tensions between Japan and China on Japanese automakers, China News Service reported, citing Japanese news agency Kyodo news service.
Cho and other Japanese auto executives will hold talks with government officials and visit several Chinese cities in order to restore bilateral trust, according to China News Service, a Beijing-based official news agency.
"The Toyota chairman and the delegation of Japanese company executives he will lead want to express goodwill for the Chinese government and Chinese consumers, but it is unknown whether Chinese consumers will accept it," the Chinese news agency said.
Despite Cho's concern about anti-Japanese sentiment, Toyota's offices and factories were operating as usual on Monday in China. Toyota was still checking which dealership stores were affected, said spokesman Joichi Tachikawa, adding the company has not ordered home its Japanese employees in China.
However, the anti-Japan protests may cause significant damage to Japanese automakers, predicts the China Automobile Dealers Association.
Many dealerships in China that sell Japanese cars have shut for now after some outlets were attacked and vandalized, according to Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of the state-backed dealership group.
Besides those boycotting Japanese goods, most Chinese citizens won't dare to buy Japanese-brand cars because of safety concerns, Luo said.
"The impact caused by natural disasters can be fixed quickly, while it takes a longer time and efforts to make hostile sentiment against Japanese cars go away," Luo said, declining to quantify the damage because losses are still being tallied.
"I have worked at the association for ten years and this round of losses suffered by Japanese car dealers is the worst I've seen."
A territorial dispute between China and Japan worsened as thousands protested in Chinese cities over the weekend in the worst flare-up of tensions between Asia's two largest economies since 2005.
Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. reported damage to their operations from fire, a Honda Civic was set ablaze in front of a dealership in Shanghai, while demonstrators handed out fliers listing names of Japanese brands to boycott.
Bilateral tensions
"The longer the conflict between China and Japan lasts, the more this anti-Japanese sentiment will spread among ordinary consumers," said Klaus Paur, Shanghai-based global head of automotive at researcher Ipsos. "In this politically sensitive situation, Japanese manufacturers have to reduce marketing as well as communication activities..."
Still, neither Japan nor China is interested in a serious conflict, which means Japanese brands in China can avoid long-term damage, he said.
Over the weekend, TV news showed Japanese cars being overturned and windshields smashed by demonstrators in some cities.
Photos posted on online forums showed Toyota cars with the brand badges covered with logos of Chinese carmakers such as BYD Co., while some Japanese car dealerships hung Chinese flags and banners proclaiming patriotism for China.
A Toyota dealership was set on fire in the eastern city of Qingdao, the company said.
Sales of Japanese-branded passenger cars fell last month in China, compared with gains of more than 10 percent for German, American and South Korean vehicles, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Nissan, the biggest Japanese automaker by sales in China, said on Sept. 6 that deliveries in the country have been affected as it cut back on marketing events in the wake of anti-Japan demonstrations that started last month.
