“Is it a war when only one guy is fighting and the other guy is laughing? Just askin’… because I’m all smiles.”

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J.D. Power sees a strong March in its crystal ball, powered by real-time transaction data of 8,600 retail franchises throughout the United States. However growth is expected to be much more sedate than the 27 percent jump in February.

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Days after the earthquake an tsunami had devastated large parts of the north-east Tohoku area of Japan, Toyota was still cut off from its factories in the hardest hit Miyagi prefecture. A convoy of six water tankers, two fuel tankers and nine cargo trucks braved impassable or closed roads and reached the area on Sunday after the quake. A second convoy arrived on Monday.

By now, Toyota has an out-and-out private army in the region, helping factories and the surrounding communities. (Read More…)

Beginning on Monday, March 28,  Toyota will restart production of three hybrid cars “which are in high demand” as Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said.

Both lines of Toyota’s Tsutsumi plant in Toyota City will begin full Prius production on Monday. These used to be mixed production lines. A few cars were left incomplete when Toyota stopped all production in all of Japan after the quake. Those cars will be finished. Then, both lines will make exclusively Prii (as in the now official Toyota Prius plural.) (Read More…)

Our daily run-down of delays, shut-downs, shortages, and postponements, triggered by the March 11 tsunami in Japan.

• Toyota informed its U.S. dealers and workers to expect production slowdowns due to parts shortages. “Today, we communicated to team members, associates and dealers here that some production interruptions in North America are likely. It’s too early to predict location or duration,” Toyota said in a statement. Most, but not all of the parts for vehicles built in North America are sourced here.  Wall Street Journal
• Toyota expects to idle its pickup truck assembly plant south of San Antonio. “We are informing our team members that, with the situation over in Japan, it is likely that we will see some nonproduction days coming,” Craig Mullenbach, spokesman for Toyota’s San Antonio plant, said. Mullenbach added that parts needed to build the full-sized Tundra and mid-sized Tacoma pickup truck in San Antonio are running out. Reuters
• Honda will suspend car production at its Japanese factories until at least April 3. Honda will temporarily transfer some functions such as car development and procurement out of its badly damaged R&D center  in Tochigi. Reuters

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The Financial Times has revealed an insidious plot: “Foreign carmakers wishing to build new plants or add capacity in China’s burgeoning car market are being told by the government that if they wish to expand, they must develop a low-cost local car brand.”

It must be a REALLY slow news day (it is). (Read More…)

The world’s largest automotive supplier, Bosch, is investing big into the world’s largest car market, China. The company has 283,000 employees worldwide. 26,000 of them work in China. Soon, that n umber will nearly double to 50,000, reports Bosch’s hometown paper, the Stuttgarter Nachrichten. (Read More…)

Our daily run-down of  delays, shut-downs, shortages, and postponements.

• Toyota will delay the introduction of the wagon version of the Prius hybrid in Japan. A launch event was planned for late April. This event is cancelled; a new date has not been set. The Nikkei [sub].
• Toyota will also delay the minivan version of the Prius, Reuters adds. (Read More…)

Chrysler is coming down hard on some of their Jeep dealers. The Monroe Dodge Superstore in Monroe, MI, just down the road from Toledo, wanted to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the Jeep. The first Willys-Overland Jeep was built 1941 at their plant in Toledo. The good folks at the Monroe Dodge Superstore thought hard about a good catchphrase. Then, the lightbulb went off. Presto, 600 T-shirts were printed, emblazoned with “Imported from Toledo.” They immediately heard from Chrysler. Not in a good way. (Read More…)

The international auto manufacturers association OICA finally got around to publishing its 2010 production statistics by country. Officially still provisional, but don’t expect material change. Publication of the all important by manufacturer part will probably take well into summer, but you, esteemed TTAC reader, are well ahead of the game.

Before we delve into the numbers, some kudos: (Read More…)

Japan is, after China, the world’s second largest car producer. In the first ten days after the March 11^th earthquake and tsunami, the Japanese auto industry lost approximately 65 percent of its capacity. That is 338,000 units. Toyota alone has lost production of about 140,000 vehicles since March 14, says AP [via MSNBC]. What will happen next? Will it affect us, and how?

Amongst banks and brokers, staid Morgan Stanley is one of the respected ones. Morgan Stanley always had a presence in Asia and manages many Asian funds. Japan’s Mitsubishi bank owns 21 percent.  Morgan Stanley has no interest in talking Japan down. However, in a 34 page research note, sent out today, titled “Japanese Earthquake: Global Supply Chain Implications”, Morgan Stanley paints a dark picture: “A prolonged disruption of Japanese component supply could have a significant impact on 2011 auto production and profitability.” Not just in Japan, the world over. It is likely to depress sales: “ The impact on US SAAR could be severe in May.”

Instead of editorializing, let’s just give you the salient parts. You may want to have a stiff drink first. And your broker’s phone number nearby. (Read More…)

After a long weekend (Monday was Spring Equinox), Japan came back to work today. Most of the Japanese auto industry did not.

Japan’s largest automaker Toyota, and Japan’s third largest, Honda, won’t be making any cars this week. Japan’s auto production is paralyzed. (Read More…)

For days, I have been trying to get a clearer picture of what is really going on outside of the largely intact gates of the major Japanese carmakers. Nobody is talking. Most keep mum because they don’t know. Some don’t talk because they don’t want to.

Now there is a rare glimpse into the matter. It has been written by Kevin Krolicki with the help of two colleagues at Reuters. Kevin is the Detroit bureau chief of Reuters. He writes about cars a lot. Comes with the territory. Kevin and I share a common affliction: A Japanese wife. A week ago, Kevin found himself going against the stream of expats that were mobbing the planes out of Japan.

Two days after the quake, Kevin went from Detroit to Tokyo to help the team of Reuters reporters in Japan. (Read More…)

The Autochannel in the UK is talking about a long wheelbase Audi A8 with built-in LTE 4G connectivity. That shouldn’t be a big feat, it’s new technology, but it can be bought off the shelf. The Autochannel pistonheads however are deeply in awe: “LTE technology offers data transfer speeds of up to 100Mbps, which is similar to a fixed-line broadband connection. This means passengers in the prototype can use the LTE broadband connection to stream music, high-definition videos and other data on up to six computer or mobile phone devices with ease.” Sure, and Ferdinand Piech invented the Internet. (Read More…)

New twist in GM’s hunt for the elusive carpart: Opel’s Eisenach plant will resume normal operations tomorrow, Tuesday. It was reported to suffer a serious shortage of Japanese parts. (Read More…)