Return to normal will be 'some time', Nissan admits after disaster

Nissan today admitted it would be "some time" before it returns to full production after Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami disrupted supplies to its plants.

Meanwhile, Honda said its car production would be suspended until the end of the week at least as it continued to evaluate when suppliers could resume deliveries of parts and assess how much stock is available. The company has suspended exports of parts.

Nissan said it aimed to manufacture on a "normal process" basis, with deliveries coming from suppliers from mid-April, but added that deliveries of some parts may take longer to return to normal.

Toyota is now expecting to re-start production in mid-April or May, although the company admitted this would probably not be full production as it was having trouble securing parts.

"Production of three hybrid models has been re-started, using parts from inventory and from suppliers that have managed to recover," a spokesperson said today.

The earthquake off Japan's eastern coast damaged some assembly and parts factories in the northeastern region, causing an industry-wide production loss of at least 400,000 vehicles to date in Japan.

Analysts expect the effect to ripple out to overseas production and non-Japanese automakers will also be hit as inventories of parts dry up in the coming months.

Toshiyuki Shiga, Nissan's Chief Operating Officer and the chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, told the Wall Street Journal the auto industry should be able to get a full picture of the parts-supply network by mid-April.