Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it will halt operations at three of its four domestic plants for five days starting later this month due to a steel-sheet shortage.
It will be the first time Nissan has halted plant operations because of a supply shortage, a company spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Nissan plans to suspend operations Nov. 29 and 30, and again from Dec. 6 to 8, the spokesman said.
The production halt is expected to delay the output of about 25,000 vehicles, he said. The company and its labor unions have agreed to boost output in January to make up for the production stoppages.
Nissan's decision comes as its major steel suppliers, Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc., struggle to meet strong demand in the face of robust steel consumption in China and a tight supply of raw materials.
For automakers, the short supply of sheet metal comes on top of higher purchasing costs as steel manufacturers, cautious about the costly expansion of blast furnace capacity, have been asking buyers to accept price hikes.
Nissan said it will halt one of the two production lines at its Kyushu plant and all the production lines at its Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture.
All production at the Shonan plant, also in Kanagawa, of Nissan subsidiary Nissan Shatai Co., will also be suspended, it said.
At those three plants, Nissan makes the March and Cube models, the Elgrand luxury van, pickup trucks for export and the Tiida compact introduced in late September.