Toyota Keeping China Production Plant Closed Longer
Toyota will keep a plant in China closed until at least Aug. 26 as it waits for conditions to improve after an explosion there killed more than 120 people, the Detroit News is reporting.
The Aug. 12 explosion in Tianjin, China injured 67 Toyota employees nearby and damaged 4,700 Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The plant in Tianjin, which produces Crown, Reiz, Corolla and Vios cars, is responsible for roughly half of Toyota’s annual production in China.
“We will only restart operations when we have been able to confirm the safety of our facilities and their surroundings, and when our employees feel that they can once again go to work in a safe environment,” the company said in an email, according to Reuters.
According to reports, fires are still breaking out near the site of the explosion. On Aug. 12, a chemicals warehouse exploded in the port city, which killed 121 people and injured hundreds.
Analysts say the disruption to Toyota’s supply chain would be felt across the automaker’s lineup.
Automakers such as Volkswagen and Jaguar Land Rover said thousands of their cars were damaged in the explosion as well.
(Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
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Sad that Toyota is forced to have operations in a country that has systematized the kind of outrageous corruption, cronyism and utter contempt for safety standards typically shown by TEPCO.