Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) will manufacture vehicles at all its Japanese vehicle-production facilities from April 18 to April 27 as it continues to address its supply and power problems that resulted following the March 11 Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
However, production volume is planned to be approximately 50% percent of normal. After April 27, all production facilities will enter an annual spring holiday through May 9. A decision on post-holiday production will be made after assessing the parts supply situation. Production resumed on March 28 at TMC’s Tsutsumi Plant in Aichi Prefecture and at Toyota Motor Kyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture. There is also a planned production restart on April 11 at Central Motor Co’s Sagamihara Plant in Kanagawa Prefecture. Toyota’s Japan plants make more than 45% of the vehicles it sells globally.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
