Tokyo, July 7 - Suzuki Motor Corp plans to spend 40 billion yen ($494 million) to relocate several coastal facilities further inland to avoid damage from possible tsunamis, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.
Suzuki is planning to move a coastal motorcycle research facility to an alternative site in Hamamatsu, where its main factory is located, when land acquisition is completed this autumn, and may move other facilities in two to three years, the report said.
Development of electric cars and fuel cell motorcycles are set to begin at Hamamatsu by next spring, and the firm is also considering moving production of motorcycle engines from its Hamamatsu plant and relocating automobile engine production from its Makinohara factory, the report added.
A company spokesman said the firm is considering various strategic measures but no decisions had been made.
Chief Executive Osamu Suzuki said last month the company would need to spend to spread out its domestic facilities, all concentrated in the central Tokai region of Japan long seen at high risk of being hit by a major earthquake.
Shares in Suzuki were down 0.7 percent at 1,851 yen in morning trade, underperforming a flat Nikkei benchmark . ($1 = 80.930 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by James Topham and Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... 3820110707
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Suzuki’s drastic quake insurance plan: Move shop
TOKYO -- Suzuki Motor Corp. isn’t taking chances when the next Big One hits Japan.
With most of its manufacturing and r&d facilities clustered along a stretch of Pacific coast long pegged as the epicenter for the country’s next disastrous earthquake, Suzuki is taking action.
The plan: Invest 40 billion yen ($494 million) to move factories and research labs from the coastal area of Hamamatsu city to an inland site on higher ground, Japan’s Nikkei business daily says.
Images of the destruction from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami obviously struck a chord. Adding to Suzuki’s concern is its operations’ proximity to the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which is being reinforced so it won’t experience the meltdowns that afflicted the Fukushima plant during the last quake.
“When you consider the risks of earthquake, tsunami, radiation and liquefaction, an executive who ignores realignment is set for failure,” Chairman Osamu Suzuki was quoted as saying.
Scientists say there is an 87 percent chance of a magnitude-8.0 quake hitting the Hamamatsu coastline in the so-called Tokai region between Tokyo and Nagoya in the next 30 years.
Suzuki’s insurance plan calls for buying 270,000 square meters (67 acres) of land about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) inland and 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the nuclear station.
The site will still be in Hamamatsu city, but farther from the coast.
The move will begin this fall and take up to three years, the Nikkei says. Research facilities will head to the inland site, and a new plant for electric vehicles is also expected.
In addition, Suzuki is looking into moving automobile engine production from its plant in Makinohara, near the nuclear plant. It is checking sites in Japan and abroad, the newspaper said.
You can reach Hans Greimel at [email protected].
http://www.autonews.com/article/2011070 ... 09902/1503
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A pro-active and practical move on the part of Suzuki..more favorable so if a planned return of a NorthAM plant (to replace the CAMI) is to be considered (much needed US jobs, the favorable US$ vs Yen exchange rates...and to bring that much elusive New Swift
).