The twin earthquakes that have hit southern Japan will shut down all Lexus manufacturing plants across the country for at least the next week.
Every plant in Japan making Lexus vehicles will suspend operations, which may bring a shortage of LS, IS, GS, RC, CT, HS, NX, LX, and GX vehicles in the coming months. North American plants are unaffected as of yet, meaning the Kentucky plant will continue to manufacture ES 350s and the plant in Cambridge, Ontario will produce RX 350 & RX 450h models.
Toyota has declined to announce how many units of production will be lost, but one estimate from Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley analyst Koichi Sugimoto puts the total at approximately 56,000 vehicles.
The plant suspensions are a result of two earthquakes that hit the area around Kumamoto city on Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu. More than 40 people were killed and over 1,000 more were injured. For more information on the natural disaster and how you can help, please visit the Japan Times website for full details.