Toyota poised to restart production at China plant shut in blast

Toyota Motor Corp. said it would restart work today at China plants that were shut after explosions in the city of Tianjin.
Workers at two lines in the Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area will come back today and start preparation to begin production Friday, Toyota said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Employees at the Xiqing line will begin operations today, it said.
Production has been shut at Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., the Japanese carmaker’s local affiliate, since the Aug. 12 blasts at a chemical storage site in the northern Chinese port city. The explosions killed at least 123 people and injured 67 Toyota workers who live in the area. About 4,700 Toyota and Lexus vehicles were also damaged.
The automaker said decisions about working overtime or extra shifts to recover lost production will be made as it continues to assess the state of its facilities. Toyota said it can’t estimate lost output at this stage.
Toyota said it doesn’t expect sales to be “significantly affected” as they have “certain amount of inventory.”
Shares of Toyota rose 2.9 percent to 6,920 yen at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo trading, the biggest gain since Dec. 19. Japan’s benchmark Topix index climbed 3.2 percent.
The Tianjin disaster took a broader toll on the auto industry, damaging 2,700 Volkswagen AG vehicles, shutting a nearby Hyundai Motor Co. logistics center and forcing Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. to divert car shipments to Shanghai. The warehouse that exploded stored about 1,300 metric tons of oxide compounds, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Tianjin Vice Mayor He Shushan. Subramaniam Sharma, Bloomberg