Japanese vehicle makers announced they’ve lost billions since the March 11 disasters.

Toyota was the biggest loser at $1.3 billion. Honda lost $900 million and Nissan almost $500 million.

The biggest problem for the Japanese car makers is the loss of production, due to lack of parts.  The lack of parts is due to the “just in time” supply model that most of Japan’s industries rely on.  This model means that the big producers do not make their own parts, and they don’t keep a lot of spare parts on hand.  Instead they rely on smaller producers to supply those parts.  Also, the smaller producers can not keep a stockpile of parts on hand, because they can’t afford to.

The March 11 disasters resulted in 60% of Japan’s nuclear plants going off line. Japan’s industries are almost totally reliant on electricity from the nuclear power plants.  The result was factories all over Japan shut down.

Japanese car makers didn’t even try to forecast their performance for the next year, because the lack of electrical power will continue, at least ’till the end of the year.