Thousands Of Cars Destroyed In Tianjin Explosion (PHOTOS)

Aug 14, 2015 02:59 PM EDT | John Nassivera

The city of Tianjin continues to recover from the destruction caused by an explosion on a Chinese port on Wednesday, with the loss of recently imported cars adding on to the loss of human life and property damage.

Thousands of vehicles imported to Tianjin, the major port city for northwest China, were destroyed from the fire of the blast, with manufacturers of the cars including Volkswagen and Land Rover, according to Car and Driver. Cars that are brought into the city from other countries are usually sold in Beijing and other areas in the region.

Jalopnik, citing a Chinese source, said that Volkswagen has so far been the most effected by the incident, losing about 2,750 cars in the explosion. Of this lot, over 1,000 vehicles were Touaregs and almost 400 were Beetles.

Other affected automakers include Renault, which said that it lost 1,500 cars, and Toyota, which said that the explosion broke windows at its car assembly, logistics, and research buildings, Reuters reported. No one was reported injured at Toyota's facilities, which were closed for a week-long summer holiday, but a China-based company spokesman did not say if the automaker will be able to resume production as usual on Monday.

"In our current view, the damage isn't that severe," the Toyota spokesman said.

Wang Cun, an analyst at China Automobile Trading Co., said that close to 40 percent of imported cars sold to China come through Tianjin, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Car makers affected by the blast said that they will make sure their vehicles are delivered on time by sending them through ports in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The deadly explosion occurred at a warehouse owned by Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. and killed at least 50 people and injured 700 others, while also causing the destruction nearby buildings, HNGN reported. While the exact cause of the blast is still unclear, military personnel found that some of the chemical pollutants near the blast site were above regulatory thresholds.

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