TOKYO – The global microchip shortage is forcing Subaru Corp. to suspend operations at its Indiana plant through the end of the month, causing the loss of 15,000 vehicles of output.
The interruption, announced April 20, comes on top of another suspension currently affecting Subaru’s Yajima plant in Gunma, Japan. That idling is taking another 10,000 vehicles out of supply.
The Indiana suspension runs from April 19 through April 30, affecting 10 workdays.
Production at Subaru’s only U.S. plant, which builds the Impreza and Legacy passenger cars as well as the Ascent and Outback crossovers, will resume May 3.
The crimped supply comes as Subaru struggles with ultra-tight 24-day inventories in the U.S. Subaru of America’s sales were up 23 percent to 160,426 vehicles in the first quarter.
Outback helped lead the sales surge with a 27 percent increase, though the Impreza, Legacy and Ascent all posted declines for the first three months of the year.
Meanwhile, Subaru’s Yajima plant is down due to chips and resumes partial production on Wednesday. Full output from Japan, which exports the hot-selling Crosstrek and Forester to the U.S., will resume only on May 10, following Japan’s Golden Week holiday in early May.
Subaru’s Main Plant, also in Gunma, is operating as usual.
