Car production worldwide affected by the tsunami in Japan, unclear in the long term

UPDATE: Ford and Chrysler has stopped taking orders for certain colors due to a shortage of Xirallic. The compound is supplied to paint companies, which are suppliers to the car companies. Xirallic was developed by the Japanese subsidiary of Merck KGaA, a Darmstadt, Germany based company unrelated to the Merck pharmaceutical company. The pigment that contains glass flakes to make paint shiny. Merck's Onahama plant suffered from some earthquake damage and lost electrical power and water. It is expected to take four to eight weeks to restart once access to the plant is possible. However, it is 45 km (28 mi.) from the Fukujima Daiichi nuclear reaction and within the evacuated exclusion zone.

Ford is having problems with certain shades of red and black while Chrysler is having supply problems with additional colors. The supply chain of parts is complex. While a certain supplier may not be in the affected area of Japan, some parts or components that the supplier uses are affected. This results in uncertainty for the automotive and other industries worldwide as the supply chain has increasing become more complex in recent years.

BMW, Toyota, and General Motors use Xirallic but have not yet announced paint supply problems.