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Most quake-hit automakers restore production

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-20 13:48

Many Sichuan and Chongqing-based auto manufacturers have restored regular production following the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, with the exceptions of Brilliance Auto's Mianyang base, where production is still suspended. There are no casualties to report.

Changan Automotive Group, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co Ltd, Changan Suzuki Automobile Corp, and Chongqing Lifan Industry (Group) Co Ltd, all based in the northern part of Chongqing Municipality next to Southwest China's Sichuan Province, restored regular production quickly, reporting little loss and no casualties from the quake.

Toyota Motor Corp's joint venture with Chinese carmaker FAW Group has only restarted the daytime shift and is taking things "one step at a time" before restarting the night shift, said Paul Nolasco, a Toyota company spokesman, according to a Reuters report.

None of the employees were injured and all family members were accounted for, but Toyota needed to check on the machinery and the well-being of their workers before giving the go-ahead to start production, he said.

Toyota lost production of 380 vehicles over the one-week stoppage, Nolasco said. The plant makes about 80 vehicles a day. Nolasco noted that the loss is not great for Toyota, Japan's biggest automaker, which makes about 9.5 million vehicles a year.

"We're not in rush to start churning those vehicles out," he said, adding that the company was monitoring possible effects of the quake on the quality of the products. The factory did not suffer much damage from the quake, but there was a crack in part of the floor in the painting line, he said.

"It reported no casualties among the 1,600 workers in the (FAW Toyota Chengdu) plant, and all the production lines and facilities have been examined and recovered," said Yang Hongjian, an office head of Toyota Motor (China) Co Ltd's Chinese enterprise public relations department.

"But the local situation is still rather unstable. The top priority for the company is to ensure its workers' safety and well-being." Yang introduced.

FAW Toyota's Chengdu facility is just 60 kilometers from the epicenter. With an annual production capacity of 10,000 cars, it mainly produces the Prado sport utility vehicles and the Coaster microbuses.

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