Japan quake cuts Nissan UK output

The Nissan factory in Sunderland will halt production for three days next week because of parts shortages following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last month.

Staff will not lose out because the company will bring forward planned non-production days scheduled for later in the year, the company said. And the factory will quickly make up lost volumes once normal delivery of components from Japan has been resumed.

"Despite an unavoidable interruption to production schedules, Nissan is wholly focused on minimising any impact on customers or staff throughout this period, and every effort is being made to return to normal operation as quickly as possible," Nissan said.

Nissan Sunderland is the UK's second car factory to cut production because of the quake. Rival Honda said earlier in the week that it will run its Swindon facility at 50 per cent capacity from next Monday, most likely until the end of May. But so far Toyota has remained at expected production levels, although it has cancelled overtime and weekend work.

Worldwide, even non-Japanese carmakers have been affected by shortages, particularly of pigments, rubber and electronics made in Japan. Ford idled its Belgian factory for five days last month and stopped taking orders for certain colours of vehicle in the US. GM and Peugeot Citroen also slowed output from European factories.