Toyota to suspend domestic production due to slump

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that it would suspend production at all of its domestic plants for 11 days in February and March in response to a slump in sales. The move underscores the rapidly deteriorating fortunes of Japan's auto giants, which have racked up bumper profits in recent years and invested heavily to expand their production facilities overseas. "We will suspend the operation of 12 Toyota factories in Japan for 11 more days," a Toyota spokesman said. Japan's top automaker is already idling its domestic plants for three days in January to cope with rapidly worsening demand. The Japanese auto giant last month forecast its first-ever annual operating loss, blaming "an unprecedented crisis" in the global auto industry. Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said Monday that he expected demand would turn upward in the second half of the year. "But I think it will be difficult to go up all at once. The rise will be gradual," he told reporters. Toyota, which vies with troubled US firm General Motors for the crown of the world's largest automaker, has already moved to reduce production at its domestic, US, Canadian and French factories. It also plans to lay off 3,000 temporary workers in Japan, where it builds cars for both domestic and overseas markets. Toyota reported Monday a 37 percent drop in US sales in December, capping a tough year during which the Japanese giant's sales in the world's biggest car market dropped 16 percent to 2.2 million vehicles. Toyota Motor shares ended 40 yen, or 1.33 percent, higher at 3,050 yen on Tuesday. The benchmark Nikkei index rose 0.42 percent as a weaker yen boosted exporters. The global slowdown has badly shaken Japan's automakers, which in recent years have cashed in on worldwide demand for their cars. Toyota had enjoyed hefty profits in recent years fuelled by demand overseas, particularly in the United States, for its eco-friendly hybrid cars. But demand has fallen sharply in Western markets as a credit crunch and rising unemployment put people off buying cars. Fewer Japanese are buying cars too. New vehicle sales in Japan slumped last year to the lowest level since 1974, an industry group said Monday. Domestic sales, excluding mini-vehicles, tumbled 6.5 percent from the previous year to 3.2 million units for a fifth straight annual decline, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said. Japanese makers, however, are in better health than the Big Three US automakers, which have been forced to seek financial lifelines from the US government to stave off bankruptcy.