According to the Nihon Kei Shimbun, Japanese auto parts manufacturers have been forced to cut production due to the spread of the new crown epidemic in Southeast Asia. The start-up of semiconductor and automotive wire factories is limited, unable to supply parts to large auto companies.

Japan's Daihatsu Industry said on August 20 that four domestic factories in Japan will cut production by up to 25% from August to September this year. Toyota's global production in September will be reduced by 40% to 500000 vehicles, significantly lower than the 840000 vehicles in September 2020.

For the Japanese auto industry, Southeast Asia is a gathering place for production bases. According to statistics from the Japan Auto Parts Industry Association, Southeast Asia accounts for 30% of the overseas production bases of Japanese auto parts companies, with the largest number.

However, at least more than 200 workers at the plant of ST Microelectronics, a large Swiss semiconductor company in Johor, southern Malaysia, were infected with the new crown, so the plant intermittently shut down after July. The number of new infections in a single day in Malaysia has reached more than 20000, and attendance has been limited to 10% at factories of automobile and auto parts companies.

Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industry, Yazaki General Industry and Furukawa Electric Industry all have wiring harness (Wiring Harness) factories in Vietnam. According to data from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), in 2014, Vietnam surpassed China to become Japan's largest wire harness import source, and its market share will reach about 40% in 2020.

Harness factory in the process of bundling wires is difficult to achieve mechanical automation, need to rely on the use of artificial "crowd tactics". As the epidemic spread rapidly, it became increasingly difficult to ensure that employees were on duty, and companies had to cut production.

Toyota will close some production lines of 14 Japanese factories, including the main factory Takaoka factory, after late August, and factories in North America, China and Europe will also reduce production respectively. Honda's factory in Guangzhou in August reduced production by 20000 vehicles, equivalent to 20% of the production plan at the end of July. Suzuka has also temporarily closed its manufacturing plant in Japan; Nissan has closed its plant in Tennessee for two weeks from August 16. The scale of the reduction is expected to be tens of thousands of vehicles.

Car companies in other countries face the same supply challenges. Germany's Volkswagen said last week that further production cuts may be needed and that it expects chip supplies to be "very volatile and tight" in the third quarter ". Ford Motor Company also said it would temporarily close its assembly plant in Kansas City due to a shortage of semiconductor-related components caused by a rise in confirmed cases in Malaysia.