6 major Japanese carmakers resume weekend output thanks to tax breaks

Six of Japan’s major automakers will resume plant operations on weekends to manufacture hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars amid nascent signs of an improvement in car demand thanks to recently introduced government tax breaks. But with auto exports still weak, industry officials said it remains uncertain whether domestic production will fully recover from a severe auto slump triggered by the global economic recession. ”In order for domestic production to improve, we need a recovery of global auto demand that will lead to exports,” Satoshi Aoki, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association and Honda Motor Co., recently told reporters. Toyota Motor Corp. will restart weekend production to meet booming demand for the all-new Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car, which has received orders for over 200,000 units since its debut in mid-May. Toyota will operate the Prius plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, and its manufacturing unit Toyota Auto Body Co. will operate the plant in Kariya in the same prefecture on July 11, a Saturday. Mitsubishi Motors, for example, will resume output on Saturdays during this month at its Nagoya plant in the city of Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture on the back of robust sales of its Colt compact car. (July 3, 2009)