TOKYO —

Two Japanese auto parts makers have applied for the U.S. government’s $5 billion financial aid package to secure their account receivables to struggling U.S. automakers, industry sources said Friday. The two manufacturers are Yazaki Corp, a Tokyo-based auto parts maker, and Yokohama-based Yorozu Corp, the sources said, adding several other domestic auto suppliers are also considering applying for the program.
   
The U.S. scheme is aimed at shielding auto suppliers from financial damage in the event of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, by guaranteeing their account receivables to the two U.S. automakers with up to $5 billion in public funds. In order to be entitled for the guarantee, auto suppliers need to pay a 2% portion of their total account receivables to the two carmakers.

Yazaki supplies GM and Chrysler with wire harnesses and indicators, with annual sales of around 100 billion yen in the business. Yorozu, which supplies GM with suspension parts with annual sales of about 20 billion yen, applied for its account receivables to GM, they added.

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9 Comments

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  Samuraiiki at 11:36 AM JST - 24th April

  Ask for help from the Japanese government, not the US. Although we symphatize with your predicament, the responsibility goes back to the country you are from. Am I wrong?

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  Yelnats at 12:34 PM JST - 24th April

  I think they have every right to ask for help. They might be transplanted from Japan, but they hire American workers to stock, deliver and possible even manufacture some of the goods in America by Americans.

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  Tahoochi at 12:56 PM JST - 24th April

  Yelnats, I agree. They're run "Japanese style" but they are contributors to American employment, society, and economy.

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  timorborder at 01:39 PM JST - 24th April

  Here we go, raw meat for the folks who still agree with the US Auto Industry arguments circa 1990. Buy American, boycott Japanese vehicles, rename the Chrysler Center building after a certain Japanese emperor, blah, blah, blah.

  Of course these companies have the right to apply to any such programs. They might be of Japanese origin, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the entities themselves are incorporated in the US (a business friendly state like Delaware perhaps). As such, something needs to be done about the title of this article and the entire premise on which it is based.

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  some14some at 02:44 PM JST - 24th April

  Yeah bring reliable guarantor (Japanese or non-Japanese), apply and wait.

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  Samuraiiki at 03:15 PM JST - 24th April

  Try the other way around for a US company to be bailed out by Japan and see the results.

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  unscrejects at 03:05 PM JST - 30th April

  Zero right to any of the bailout programs - check their records in the US and you'll see how they have actually contributed to the death of US auto makers. 1) Lying about their costs - using part time workers (who didn't even know they were part time), declaring false parts purchase prices (citing higher prices which allowed them to escape dumping scrutiny), lobbying against US firms in Japan (getting tariffs of all kinds compounded onto imported vehicles manufactured by US companies), preventing US makers reps from having seats on Japanese business organizations (T.Boone Pickens, Henry Wallace et al)... The fact is they have dumped their vehicles in the US while enjoying a virtual veil of protection from any regulations in the US - blatently skipping on recalls while US firms have strictly complied with the law...)

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  LostinNagoya at 03:17 PM JST - 30th April

  They pay taxes to the Japanese government. Not to the US. Shouldn´t they be applying for help using J-money taxpayers instead of US citizens´?

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  Kwaabish at 09:46 AM JST - 1st May

  The US-subsidiary companies of Yazaki and Yorozu pay Federal and State taxes in the US and also contribute to the Social Security and unemployment insurance. They also pay wages to US workers. Why wouldn't they be able to apply?

  Otherwise, if these companies are "critical suppliers" to GM and/or Chrysler, good luck trying to manufacture without these companies' parts during the bankruptcy restructuring.

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