Japanese Auto Industry Loses 1.4 Million Units - Nissan Walks Away Unharmed

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Today is the day when the Japanese majors announce domestic and global data for June and the half year. A little more than three months ago, a massive earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami, paralyzed much of Japan’s infrastructure. It could not have come at a more inopportune time. The Japanese auto industry was already suffering from weak markets at home and abroad, paired with a rising yen that destroyed profits from exports. Three months later, how big was the hit?

Japanese and overseas output, June

ManufacturerDomesticChangeOverseasChangeExportsChange


Toyota


Group
320,452-12.6%360,5163.3%135,254-20.2%


Nissan
102,3901.9%317,44125.0%75,90125.0%


Suzuki
75,475-22.9%121,703-9.3%18,919-23.0%


Honda
43,289-50.6%125,084-42.1%12,561-60.2%


Mazda
80,114-2.3%33,6721.2%72,2933.0%



Mitsubishi
59,0698.1%47,19825.3%47,09625.5%

In June, the Japanese car industry was still battling the effects of the tsunami. However, it had global consequences.

Global output June and YTD

ManufacturerJune globalChangeYTD globalChange


Toyota


Group
680,968-7.9%3,375,692-22.5%


Nissan
419,83118.5%2,114,74511.1%


Suzuki
197,178-15.0%1,360,345-5.0%


Honda
168,373-44.5%1,302,707-27.7%


Mazda
113,786-1.3%548,026-13.6%



Mitsubishi
106,26715.1%585,5264.4%Total1,686,403-8.2%9,287,041-13.1%

Globally, the Japanese auto industry lost 13.1 percent of its output in the first half year of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010. Not all of this goes on account of the disaster, the industry had been in a downdraft before. However, the Japanese majors made 1.4 million fewer cars from January to June 2011 than in the first half of 2010.

Company-wise, Toyota was hardest hit in raw numbers. Being the world’s largest automaker with half of its capacity in Japan, Toyota is the biggest target.

Surprisingly, Honda took the highest percentage hit. One thought that with only a quarter of its worldwide production in Japan, Honda would have been spared the worst. But this wasn’t the case. When parts and components are missing, overseas plants stand idle. Toyota also recovers faster. Honda is still 44.5 percent below June 2010

Very surprisingly, Nissan survived more or less unscathed and could raise its half year output by 11.1 percent. Nissan was better diversified, and plain lucky. If its engine plant in Iwaki would be a few miles closer to Fukushima than it already is, Nissan would not look so good. Now, 2011 could become the defining year for Nissan. Nissan has big plans for emerging markets, especially Asia. Some of its plans will be released tomorrow in Beijing. We’ll be there.

Data have been compiled from individual manufacturer releases. Some links require registration.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 3 comments
  • Secret Hi5 Secret Hi5 on Jul 25, 2011

    How does this factor into Nissan's recent gains of the US market share? I don't remember the temporal relationship between the disaster and Nissan's rocketing sales.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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