Tsunami au Japon : plus de Cyber Gray ni de Crystal Red

Wall Street Journal a écrit:A car paint shortage in Japan is causing new problems for the auto industry. A type of shiny pigment widely used in car manufacturing is only produced at a single plant in Japan.

The pigment is called Xirallic and is only produced at an Onahama plant owned by Merck KGaA, a German chemical company. Onahama is a town on the Japanese coast where citizens are still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan earlier this month. In the wake of the tsunami, the town has been exposed to the radiation leaking from the Fukashima nuclear reactor.

Many major auto makers, such as Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co., employ Xirallic to give their metallic paints a sparkling appearance. The troubles in Onahama have forced them into a desperate search to find some other type of paint they can use. Last week Chrysler told dealers that the company plants to limit orders for vehicles in 10 different colors that employ Xirallic pigment. Ford had already told dealers it could no longer take orders for F-150 trucks and other models using “tuxedo black” and three shades of red.