Detroit - Excessive Lack of special pigment to makes the elegant car shine has causes car manufacturers to push for a limit of order on the wonderful vehicle in certain shades of black, red and others.
Major car manufacturers, including Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota Motor Co., General Motors and Ford Motor Co. uses the beautiful pigment - called Xirallic - which is only produced in one fascinating factory in the world, namely Onahama factory near Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan.
The authorized factory is operated by the German chemical company Merck KGaA, and has been evacuated. Schrimpf Gangolf Merck's official spokesman said the company did not know when it will be allowed to reopen the factory, which closed soon after the earthquake 11 March.
Chrysler told its dealers that it is limiting demand for vehicles to 10 colors, including two variations of the three variations of black and red. Ford's vehicle production slows the color "black tuxedo" and three variations of the color red.
Chrysler spokeswoman Katie Hepler called it a "precautionary measure" and said the company does not expect a decline in production today.
"We anticipate that we currently have sufficient inventory to fulfill existing customer orders," Hepler said in a statement.
He said the other colors that are restricted are the Bronze Star, Rugged Brown, Hunter Green, Ivory, and Silver Billet.
Ford dealers will not be able to order a black Expeditions, Navigators, pickup F-150 and Super Duty pickups, said Ford spokesman Todd Nissen.
He said Ford explore other materials that can produce the same effect as Xirallic shiny. Ford is also working with Merck to see if the pigment can be produced elsewhere.
Schrimpf from Merck said it would be difficult to transfer production to another factory. After repairs, will take between four to eight weeks to resume production, he said.
Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said the company uses pigment, but as far as he knew it did not limit the request.
The terrible tsunami and earthquake have become most influencial obstacles for the production of "just-in-time", which requires the huge number of spare parts and low inventory on hand to avoid the high cost. Lack of spare parts from Japan has made a car manufacturer like elegant GM to temporarily halt production at major assembly plants in exotic North America.
