Impacted models include the Crown, Reiz, Corolla, Vios and the Corolla EX, largely for the domestic market.
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France’s second largest automaker, Renault, had around 1,500 cars in a warehouse at the port that has been burned and the Japanese manufacturer Toyota reported the explosions destroyed the windows at the company’s auto assembly, logistics, and research buildings, which used in conjunction with China FAW Group Corporation. Two Toyota dealerships and one Mazda store also are shut. The component maker is still checking on the status of its local employees, Masayuki Toyama, spokesman for the company, said by phone on Monday.
“We can confirm that no deaths have been reported”.
Some shipments to Tianjin have been diverted to other regional ports, raising transport costs but minimizing overall economic impact, said Roberto Giannetta, secretary general of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association.
Toyota’s production lines will be closed until the end of Wednesday, 19, while John Deere suspended work indefinitely.
“Damage to containers and cargo has been extensive”, he said, adding that those losses, hard to estimate at this early stage, would be borne by insurance companies. Consumer electronics giant Panasonic said there was minor damage to its plant in the industrial city and that it was halting operations on Monday for safety checks.
“Operations were halted today to do safety checks”.
Massive explosions at a chemical storage facility killed more than 100 people and injured over 700, with firefighters still battling the giant blaze that followed. A senior military officer has already confirmed the discovery of tons of toxic chemical sodium cyanide at two locations in the blast zone.
The burnt out vehicles near the explosion site in Tianjin, August 13.
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Toyota says it won’t be restarting its operations in Tianjin until at least Wednesday.
