Japanese Automakers Plan On Resuming Production

Japanese automakers including Nissan, Honda, and Toyota, will begin starting operations again at plants affected by the earthquake and tsunami. That's good news for distributors in many parts of the world that have feared a disruption in vehicles and supplies.

Nissan will resume production at its Yokohama and Kyushu plants on Thursday, while its other plants in Oppama, Iwate and Tochigi Prefectures are expected to resume operations on March 21. For now, Nissan only wants to run plants at 80 percent of their capacity.

Repair work has begun at damaged facilities, including the Oppama plant, the only location where the all-electric Nissan Leaf is manufactured. Production of the Leaf will transfer to Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant next year.

“We need time to turn the plant back on and get the flow of parts into the plant,” Nissan spokeswoman Paula Angelo said.

As Japanese plants come back on-line, the Japanese market is also showing life again following steep losses. Automobile stocks including Mazda, Isuzu, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki, and Honda are up 5-10 percent today.