Japan catastrophe might delay launch of Toyota Etios and Toyota Fortuner

It has been a month since Japan was struck by the earth quake attacks but the recovery of the destruction is going at a little slower pace which can be traced from the interrupted supply of critical car components in India. India still facing the shortage in the automobile component supply like of electronic chips and engine components from the companies like Toyota and Honda.



The dual disaster has actually hit the Indian car market as there is 50-70% of production loss for these major car makers. But by looking at the market condition which is going in double digits, Honda and Toyota's loss could be gain for its competitors. Jnaneswar Sen,senior VP marketing and sales at Honda Siel stated that the company will definitely lose volumes in the next few months. He further stated that the company is hoping that supplies would normalize post July and they would be able to catch up on the lost volumes. He also added that the launch of their long awaited small car Honda Brio will for sure get a good response, however there will be competitive pressure.



It being highly speculated that the launch of Toyota's small car Toyota Liva which already got delayed by three months, may get further delayed due to the shortage of components. There will be drastic reduction in the production of both the companies, Toyota and Honda for the next few months because of the shortage of components. Honda is expecting a production loss of 5,000 units worth nearly Rs. 200 crore. Because of the reduction, customers who have booked Toyota Etios and Toyota Fortuner will have to wait and in some cases it can
result to cancellations. The long waiting for Etios has already resulted in 10% cancellation for the same.

The impact on Nissan is not known and Maruti claims that it has not been impacted. Experts have revealed that the loss of Toyota Etios and Honda City might result fruitful to Maruti Swift D'zire's sales and even the new launches of Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta and Skoda's new sedan As for now Toyota and Honda are hoping that the situation resolves by July or else the launch of their small cars Toyota Liva and Honda Brio may get impacted.

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