Toyota, Honda Motor halt Kyushu production after quake disrupts supply chain

• Reuters

• Published On Jul 29, 2026 at 12:51 PM IST

Major Japanese manufacturers have halted production at facilities across the island of Kyushu as they assess the damage from Tuesday’s deadly earthquake. Toyota said on Wednesday it would halt operations at three plants in southern Japan through Friday as it weighed the impact of an earthquake on suppliers and logistics, just hours after resuming production which had stopped the previous day. Tuesday’s 7.1-magnitude ‌quake in the ⁠prefecture of ⁠Kumamoto damaged roads and knocked out power to thousands of homes, raising concerns about supply chains and logistics and affecting other manufacturers besides Toyota.

“The situation, including aftershocks and recovery efforts, is changing daily,” the world’s biggest automaker said in a statement about the suspensions at its Miyata, Kanda and Kokura plants from Wednesday until July 31. Kyushu is a manufacturing hub and an important part of the semiconductor and automobile industry’s supply chains. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake temporarily crippled part of Japan’s auto supply ⁠chain, disrupting ‌the industry globally.

Toyota makes a wide range of Lexus luxury models at its Miyata plant, which has annual production capacity of about 430,000 vehicles, and hybrid car ⁠units and engines at the other two. Honda Motor said it would extend an operation suspension at its Kumamoto motorcycle plant, also until Friday, to allow repairs to quake-damaged parts of the factory.

Chipmaker Renesas said it halted operations at two plants in Kumamoto, which had suffered fallen ceiling panels, cracks in walls and some water leakage. TSMC evacuated staff at its Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM) fab in Kumamoto following the quake and later confirmed that all personnel were safe. “Post-earthquake structural inspections have been completed, confirming that the structures are safe ‌and operations are gradually resuming.

Detailed inspections and impact assessments are ongoing,” it said in an emailed statement late on Tuesday. Chipmaking equipment maker Tokyo Electron said on Tuesday that no major damage to buildings or ⁠facilities had been confirmed at its Koshi and Ozu plants in Kumamoto but it would suspend operations on Wednesday while safety checks were carried out. Sony said it had evacuated employees and halted operations at its semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Kumamoto on Tuesday. It identified no significant damage at other facilities in Nagasaki, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures.

Nissan said it had no plans for a suspension at its plant in Fukuoka, north of Kumamoto, where it makes the Rogue SUV, known locally as the X-Trail, but added that it was monitoring its supplier and logistics situation.