Japan's two automakers on Monday reported that domestic production levels plunged in March due to the affects of the twin disasters that struck the east and northeastern Pacific coastal regions of the country on March 11.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker and producer of the ubiquitous Prius gas and electric powered vehicle, said production plummeted 62.7 percent in March compared to the same month a year earlier, to 129,491 units, marking the automaker's lowest output level since January 1976.
Toyota said that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused operations at their plants to be suspended and also resulted in exports abroad falling 33.4 percent, marking the first slide in two months.
Similarly the nation's No. 2 automaker, Honda Motor Co. saw its output in March plunge 62.9 percent from a year earlier to a record low of 34,754 units produced.
March's fall, the sharpest ever recorded by the firm, marked Honda's fourth straight month of declining production and exports subsequently dropped 26.2 percent for the first time in five months to 20,699 units shipped abroad, the automaker said.
Honda cited disrupted supply chain issues stemming from the quake and tsunami as causing domestic output levels to slump, as well as production halts caused by damaged factories and power shortages.
