Japan’s Auto Industry Is Still Recovering From Back-to-Back Natural Disasters

Honda’s factories in Japan remain shut down more than two weeks after an earthquake struck the country, and the disruption hasn’t stopped there.

An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude hit Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28, halting operations at Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi manufacturing plants. The quake killed 13 people and damaged infrastructure across the Kyushu region. Just as the automakers were getting back on their feet, a typhoon moved through the same area and forced another round of shutdowns. As of today, Honda still has not returned to full production, and the auto industry is counting the cost.

The earthquake did more than shake buildings. It knocked out power, damaged supplier facilities, and disrupted the delivery of parts that Japanese assembly plants depend on to keep running. Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Honda all paused operations at multiple sites while they inspected for damage and waited on parts.

The impact reached beyond Japan. Toyota’s Tahara plant, which builds the Land Cruiser 250 and Lexus GX for the U.S. market, stayed idle for more than a week. Other affected models included the Nissan Rogue and several Toyota and Lexus vehicles built for American dealerships.

Most automakers have recovered faster than expected.

• Mitsubishi resumed operations on August 5.
• Toyota and Nissan restarted their affected plants on August 6.
• Renesas, a key semiconductor supplier, restored production within days and expects to reach pre-earthquake output within three weeks.

Analysts estimate the shutdowns will cost the industry close to 20,000 vehicles in lost production.

Just as the recovery was taking hold, Typhoon Dolphin moved toward southwestern Japan. On August 7, Toyota suspended 17 production lines across 9 plants. This time, the concern was not factory damage but the risk that the storm would disrupt vehicle shipping by sea. Models built on the affected lines included the Corolla, Camry, and RAV4.

Honda is still waiting for recovery. Two of its Japanese assembly plants, including the Yorii plant in Saitama and its Suzuka facility, remain idle. The company says it does not expect to return to normal operations until August 19.

The delay comes down to a single supplier that has not fully recovered from earthquake damage. Honda’s finance chief has been reluctant to commit to a firm restart date, since other suppliers further down the chain could still cause problems.

American Honda buyers are unlikely to feel much of this. Less than 1% of Honda’s U.S. sales in the first half of 2026 came from vehicles imported directly from Japan. The Civic Type R and Prelude Hybrid are the only Japan-built Honda models sold in the U.S. in meaningful numbers, and most of Honda’s high-volume vehicles are already built in North America.

Toyota and Nissan face somewhat more exposure, since models like the Land Cruiser, Lexus GX, and Rogue are imported from the affected plants. Buyers looking for those vehicles may see tighter inventory in the coming weeks.

The bigger story here is not any single factory. It is how exposed Japan’s auto industry still is to natural disasters. Just-in-time manufacturing keeps costs down, but it also means a single immobilized supplier can stall an entire assembly line, even when the factory itself is untouched.

For now, most of Japan’s auto industry is back to work. Honda is the one still waiting, and August 19 will be the next date worth watching.