Nissan GT-R, Honda Fit Inventories in Good Shape for U.S. Despite Earthquake

Just the Facts:

• Nissan told Inside Line on Monday that about 70 percent of its 2012 model year allocation for the GT-R is already on the ground in the U.S.
• Japanese automakers are still assessing the impact of the devastating earthquake on individual vehicle lines.
• GM is suspending work at an assembly plant in Zaragoza, Spain and canceling shifts at a plant in Eisenach, Germany, because of a shortage of Japan-made parts. The company will idle a truck plant in Shreveport, Louisiana this week due to the earthquake.
• Honda told Inside Line on Monday that inventories of the Honda Fit, which is imported to the U.S. are "good" and that no shortages of the Honda Civic are expected.

DETROIT — Japanese automakers are still assessing the impact of the devastating earthquake on individual vehicle lines, but Nissan and Honda told Inside Line on Monday that U.S. inventories of several key products, including the Nissan GT-R, Honda Fit and Civic are adequate.

"We've basically got about 70 percent of our 2012 model year allocation (of the Nissan GT-R) here on the ground in the U.S.," said David Reuter, Nissan Americas vice president of communications, in a phone conversation with Inside Line on Monday. "We're in a very good place on GT-R at the moment. It's certainly not a doomsday scenario."

Nissan brought all of its Japan plants back on line today with the exception of the Iwaki engine plant, which is located near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Officials barred Nissan workers from entering the plant for part of last week. The Iwaki plant makes Nissan's QR four-cylinder engine. The automaker said it might resort to supplying its Japanese plants with the same four-cylinder engines made at its factory in Decherd, Tennessee.

Reuter said Nissan Americas has 1,500 Nissan Leaf vehicles "in the system" here — either on the ground or in transit. The Oppama, Japan plant, where the Leaf is built, restarted production today. Of greater concern is the supply of Infiniti vehicles in the U.S. All Infiniti vehicles are built in Japan. Reuter said Nissan has about a 50-day supply of Infiniti vehicles in the U.S.

"There are no shortages of anything specific at this point," he said. "As we work through the final assessments, we'll have a better idea if we have any dips to smooth over with individual vehicle lines."

Honda told Inside Line that U.S. inventories of two key vehicles — the Fit and the Civic — are "good."

"Of the two, only Fit is import-only for the U.S.," wrote Edward K. Miller, Honda North America senior manager for news media and industry relations in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line on Monday. "We make the Civic in 13 countries, including two assembly lines in Alliston, Ontario and another in Greensburg, Indiana, so supplies are adequate and all (North American) plants are running."

Honda says several of its vehicle plants in Japan will remain closed through Wednesday. The automaker has temporarily stopped taking orders from U.S. dealers for Japan-made models.

"Our dealers order cars approximately 1-1/2 months before the start of a production month," said the automaker in a statement. "That means dealers have already ordered cars to be produced in Japan in March and April. Since we have lost at least a week of Japan production, the actual production dates of those orders will be delayed by some amount of time.

"We will fulfill existing orders as quickly as possible but, as a contingency, we have decided not to open up May production to the computerized dealer ordering system at this time. If there are any unfulfilled existing dealer orders at the start of May production, we will fill those first and then allocate the remaining production to dealers. This step is simply a cautious move to ensure that we can fulfill all dealer orders in the most timely manner."

Toyota resumed parts production at seven domestic parts factories late last week but plans to keep vehicle assembly plants closed through Tuesday. "We have yet to decide when vehicle production will resume," said Toyota in its latest update.

GM is suspending work at an assembly plant in Zaragoza, Spain and canceling shifts at a plant in Eisenach, Germany, because of a shortage of Japan-made parts. The company will idle a truck plant in Shreveport, Louisiana this week due to the earthquake and ensuing parts shortage. The plant makes the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado.

"We are curtailing non-essential expenses and travel," wrote Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman, in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line on Monday about the effects of the earthquake. GM says it is making that move as a precaution until it figures out how events in Japan will affect global output.

Inside Line says: No shortage of Japanese vehicles in the U.S. at this point as a result of Japan's natural disasters, nuclear crisis and rolling power outage. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent