Nissan Motor said it will suspend production in its two car assembly plants in the United States for at least three days from July 15 due to a delay in the delivery of engine control units.
"We have a production halt on July 15, 16 and 19 at two U.S. plants," said Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa. "We expect to resume production on July 20."
Japan's third-largest automaker has two U.S. assembly plants with a total output capacity of 950,000 vehicles a year, in Tennessee and in Mississippi, as well as a car parts plant.
The problem has already forced Nissan to stop production lines in Japan for three days from Wednesday after supplier Hitachi Automotive Systems could not deliver the parts on time.
Hitachi said it could not receive a type of custom integrated circuit, a main component of the engine control unit, in time from a supplier, without identifying that company.
The suspension affects the production of about 20,000 Nissan units worldwide, Jiji Press reported.
The delay is also affecting Honda and Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru vehicles, although 90% of the parts are used to supply Nissan.
Nissan will not suspend its output in Mexico, where it has four manufacturing and distribution facilities with an annual production capacity of more than 300,000 units, the spokesman said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
