HAVE YOUR SAY If people want to buy their cars it will survive if not it will fail just the same as every non-viable business.Freda, NewcastleSend us your comments
QuoteTOKYO — Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation’s top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.The last time Toyota Motor Corp halted production at all its Japan plants was in August 1993, when demand plunged because of a rising yen, and that was for only one day, according to the company.A global economic downturn has hammered the auto industry in Japan and elsewhere, forcing carmakers to cut staff, lower production and delay new models. Major automakers in the U.S. had teetered on the brink of collapse until securing a multibillion dollar government lifeline.“We are coping with a slump in global sales,” Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said Tuesday. “Demand in the world auto market is so depressed that every model is falling sharply in sales.”Toyota said last year that it was stopping production at its 12 domestic plants for three days in January. But it decided on additional closures because of the global downturn. Toyota will stop output for six days in February and five days in March, it said.Of Toyota’s domestic factories, four produce vehicles while the rest make engines and auto parts.Overnight, Toyota reported that its U.S. sales in December were down 37% on year, a worse drop than Ford Motor Co’s 32% drop and GM’s 31 percent slide.The manufacturers are also struggling in its home market, which has been stagnant for years. The sales drop has worsened this year amid a global recession.Sales of new vehicles in Japan fell to 3.2 million vehicles last year, the lowest in 34 years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.Last month, Toyota said it was slipping into its first operating loss in 70 years, expecting 150 billion yen of operating losses for the fiscal year ending March 2009.Toyota, which makes the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, expects 50 billion yen in net profit, down from 1.7 trillion yen earned the previous year.via : http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=376193-----------"wicked". as in serious powerful move as set forth by Toyota.
TOKYO — Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation’s top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.The last time Toyota Motor Corp halted production at all its Japan plants was in August 1993, when demand plunged because of a rising yen, and that was for only one day, according to the company.A global economic downturn has hammered the auto industry in Japan and elsewhere, forcing carmakers to cut staff, lower production and delay new models. Major automakers in the U.S. had teetered on the brink of collapse until securing a multibillion dollar government lifeline.“We are coping with a slump in global sales,” Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said Tuesday. “Demand in the world auto market is so depressed that every model is falling sharply in sales.”Toyota said last year that it was stopping production at its 12 domestic plants for three days in January. But it decided on additional closures because of the global downturn. Toyota will stop output for six days in February and five days in March, it said.Of Toyota’s domestic factories, four produce vehicles while the rest make engines and auto parts.Overnight, Toyota reported that its U.S. sales in December were down 37% on year, a worse drop than Ford Motor Co’s 32% drop and GM’s 31 percent slide.The manufacturers are also struggling in its home market, which has been stagnant for years. The sales drop has worsened this year amid a global recession.Sales of new vehicles in Japan fell to 3.2 million vehicles last year, the lowest in 34 years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.Last month, Toyota said it was slipping into its first operating loss in 70 years, expecting 150 billion yen of operating losses for the fiscal year ending March 2009.Toyota, which makes the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, expects 50 billion yen in net profit, down from 1.7 trillion yen earned the previous year.
Toyota Cuts U.S., Canada Output as Outlook Worsens (Update1)By Alan OhnsmanJan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., reeling from its biggest U.S. sales drop in more than three decades, is widening North American vehicle production cuts as forecasts for demand in 2009 worsen.The Toyota City, Japan-based company is paring production days through April 3 at U.S. and Canadian plants to reduce inventory, spokesman Mike Goss said. Cuts vary by plant and model, from the elimination of 29 production days this quarter on two lines in Georgetown, Kentucky, that build Camry sedans to three days at a San Antonio pickup-truck plant.The move comes after General Motors Corp. yesterday predicted U.S. sales of new vehicles may plunge to a 27-year low of as few as 10.5 million. Toyota, Japan’s largest automaker, already plans to eliminate 5,000 temporary workers in Japan and the U.S. as it braces for its first operating loss in 71 years.“Nobody knows where the market is going and everybody is scared,” said analyst Jim Hossack at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California. “Dealers are carrying too much inventory and struggling to find financing to cover it. They stop buying so the factories stop shipping.”Toyota so far has declined to estimate either its or overall U.S. industry sales this year. In 2008 the carmaker posted a 15 percent U.S. sales drop, the biggest in 34 years.Toyota rose 80 yen, or 2.8 percent, to 2,920 yen in Tokyo Stock exchange composite trading at the 11 a.m. trading break in Tokyo.InventoryJim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, reiterated this week in Detroit that inventory had risen to more than a 90-day supply at the end of December.With the reductions, overall inventory may be trimmed “by about half” in the second quarter of 2009, Toyota said in a statement.In Japan, the company this month said it would stop assembly work at domestic factories for 11 days over the next two months.Nissan Motor Co. on Jan. 14 said its U.S. auto-assembly plants will stay on a 4-day workweek indefinitely.Toyota’s Goss said “there’s really no way to average” how many production days are being eliminated at nine auto-assembly and engine factories in the U.S. and Canada covered by the adjustment.Camrys, CorollasModels most affected by the schedule changes are Camry, Corolla compact cars and Tacoma pickups. Some reductions were announced late last year and include output at lines in Kentucky, Indiana, California, Ontario, Texas, West Virginia and Alabama.Toyota last year shut its San Antonio plant that makes Tundra pickups for three months to reduce inventory. Last month, it stopped construction indefinitely on a plant in Mississippi that’s intended to build Prius hybrids.On non-assembly days, workers have the option of taking unpaid leave or being paid to attend training classes and work on plant improvement projects, said Goss, who is based in Erlanger, Kentucky.He declined to comment on further steps that may be taken in North America. “We’re still studying what the future holds,” he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.netLast Updated: January 15, 2009 22:17 EST
Industry News: Toyota Now Renting Shipping Vessels To Store Unsold Cars(http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/02/Toyota_Storage.jpg)Toyota sales have slowed down so much in Europe, unsold cars sitting dockside in Malmo, Sweden have outgrown lots, forcing Toyota to rent a shipping vessel as a floating parking lot for 2,500 unsold cars.We already knew unsold cars were sitting in giant parking lots all over the world, but according to the port operators in Malmo, their 12,500 car capacity lots are full so the cars have to go elsewhere. As a result, Toyota has been forced to contract the services of global car shipper Wallenius Wilhelmsen to park one of their 2,500 car capacity overseas ships in the port to act as a great big floating parking garage. When Toyota not only can't even their cars on to dealer lots, they can't even get 'em off the boat, you know things are getting serious.
Toyota May Get Aid From Japan as Credit Tightens (Update2)By Tetsuya Komatsu and Naoko FujimuraMarch 3 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., forecasting the first loss in 59 years, may get aid from the Japanese government, as the global financial crisis makes it difficult to raise money.The company’s financial unit may ask for 200 billion yen ($2 billion) in loans, broadcaster NHK reported today, without saying where it got the information. Toyota Financial Services Corp. is in talks with state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said spokesman Toshiaki Kawai without confirming the timing or amount.The carmaker expects a net loss of 350 billion yen after vehicle sales in the U.S., traditionally Toyota’s most profitable market, plunged 31 percent last quarter. The global recession has also forced General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to get bailouts from the U.S. government.“Toyota should take advantage of anything it can to get through this crisis,” said Hitoshi Yamamoto, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Fortis Asset Management Japan Co., which manages $5.5 billion in Japanese equities. “Money is not flowing in the capital markets.”The Toyota City, Japan-based company has 2.34 trillion yen in loans and bonds maturing this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Automakers usually raise funds through bonds and loans for their financial companies to offer loans for their customers.Toyota fell 0.3 percent to 3,060 yen, as of the 11 a.m. trading break in Tokyo. The shares have risen 5.3 percent this year compared with a 19 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.Government AidJapan will use some of its foreign-exchange reserves to lend to the state-owned corporation that gives financing to Japanese companies operating abroad, Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said today.Toyota follows other carmakers seeking government help as sales plunge worldwide. GM has received $13.4 billion in U.S. aid and is seeking more to keep its operations in its home market running through this month. France granted PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA a total of 6 billion euros in five-year loans last month. In the U.K., carmakers are seeking support for their finance units from the Bank of England. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has gotten subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to help pay wages, as it cuts domestic production.Toyota, the maker of the Corolla compact, may slash production 12 percent next fiscal year, it said yesterday. Worldwide vehicles sales may fall 14 percent to 55 million units in 2009, according to Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn.In response, automakers are shutting factories and cutting jobs. Toyota plans to halve the number of contract workers in Japan to 3,000 by March 31. GM last month said it is cutting another 47,000 jobs globally, as it reported a $30.9 billion annual loss. Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, on Feb. 28 said it will cut all 16,500 temporary jobs globally and shuttered five factories in Germany last week.To contact the reporter on this story: Tetsuya Komatsu in Tokyo at tekomatsu@bloomberg.net; Naoko Fujimura in Tokyo at nfujimura@bloomberg.net.Last Updated: March 2, 2009 22:02 ESThttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBA0r9UqrGVo&refer=home
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China Bid to Rival Toyota, VW May Stumble on Local PoliticsShare | Email | Print | A A ABy Bloomberg NewsMay 27 (Bloomberg) -- China’s provincial authorities may slow the central government’s attempts to consolidate the auto industry and create a giant automaker to rival Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG in the world’s fastest growing car market.The central government intends to combine the nation’s 14 largest automakers into 10 by 2011 as part of plans to curb competition and create larger players able to invest in developing more sophisticated vehicles. Consolidation will only be possible if local authorities are prepared to endanger jobs and taxes by surrendering control of carmakers set up under Communist reforms dating back to the 1950s.“The provincial governments are a tremendous obstacle for industry consolidation,” said Michael Dunne, managing director of JD Power & Associates China, an automotive consultant. “Beijing has some leverage, but not enough to make the call.”The central government wants to pare the country’s more than 100 automakers as provincial support for unprofitable companies has squeezed margins industrywide. Overall profit at the country’s 19 biggest automakers fell 48 percent in the first quarter, even as national vehicle sales rose 3.9 percent. In contrast, Europe has seven major automakers and the U.S. has three.“China’s automakers are too fragmented to compete with overseas companies,” said Ricon Xia, a Daiwa Institute of Research (H.K.) Ltd. analyst in Shanghai. “Persuading some provinces to allow mergers is vital for the overall industry.”Fragmented MarketSAIC Motor Corp., China’s biggest carmaker, had a 19 percent market share last year and built 1.79 million vehicles. Of these, at least 80 percent were through ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors Corp. By contrast, Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, made 9.24 million vehicles. It had a 46 percent share of its domestic market, excluding minicars. Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, built 6.23 million vehicles last year.Some consolidation has begun. Shanghai-controlled SAIC Motor bought Nanjing Automobile Group Corp. last year in the biggest takeover to have taken place in China’s auto industry. Nanjing City and Jiangsu province only agreed to sell after demand plunged, according to media reports at the time. Its vehicle sales fell 38 percent in 2007.“It was very complicated because they didn’t like each other,” said Ashvin Chotai, managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia Ltd., an automotive consulting company in London. The deal “took a long time.”Profit DeclineIntegration costs following the 2.1 billion yuan ($308 million) takeover also contributed to a 49 percent decline in SAIC Motor’s first-quarter profit.“Short-term problems are normal,” said SAIC spokeswoman Zhu Xiangjun. “The merger with Nanjing has gone very smoothly.” She didn’t say if further deals were planned.SAIC Motor climbed 3.3 percent to 14.60 yuan at the close of trading in Shanghai. The stock has more than doubled this year.Chinese automakers may agree deals that fill holes in their product line-ups, said Daiwa’s Xia. Guangdong province’s Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., for instance, last week agreed to buy 29 percent of Hunan Changfeng Motors Co., controlled by Hunan province, to add sport-utility vehicles to its range. The company predominately makes cars, including Toyota and Honda Motor Co. models.The Changfeng deal “didn’t come about because of the central’s government policy,” Xia said. “They only agreed because it will benefit both parties. It won’t have any direct effect on other mergers in future.”Dongfeng MotorDongfeng Motor Group Co., China’s third-largest automaker, has a team looking at possible acquisitions at home and overseas, said Hu Xindong, a spokesman. Still, the carmaker isn’t discussing any deals at board level and it will only make acquisitions that add more than just capacity, he said.“Making the company bigger isn’t Dongfeng’s first priority,” Hu added. “We would first consider whether the deal will benefit our product range and business.”China is encouraging the four largest automakers, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.(Group), China FAW Group Corp., Dongfeng Motor, and Changan Automobile (Group) Ltd. to buy up rivals nationwide, according to a March directive. Apart from city-owned Shanghai Auto, SAIC Motor’s parent, all of them are controlled by the central government. Guangzhou Auto and three other automakers won backing for deals in set regions.Changan spokesman Zhang Baojun declined to comment.Higher SalesThe plan may allow China’s biggest carmakers to boost their market share and earnings. Nationwide vehicles sales rose to 2.68 million vehicles in the first quarter. Sales in the U.S. dropped 38 percent to 2.2 million.Provinces set up carmakers, steel mills and other industries under a decentralization policy outlined by Mao Zedong in 1958. Efforts to protect local industries led to some provinces imposing internal tariffs on other provinces’ cars before China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.Still, China’s cooling economy may force provinces to stop making cars even at the cost of jobs. Vehicle sales rose 6.7 percent last year, the slowest pace since 1998, increasing the pressure on the smallest players.“The weaker ones will find it hard to survive and will be forced to quit,” said Yale Zhang, a director at CSM Asia in Shanghai. “The market isn’t as strong as before.”To contact the reporter for this story: Stephanie Wong in Shanghai at swong139@bloomberg.netLast Updated: May 27, 2009 05:10 EDT
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Topic: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (Public, TYO:7203) (Read 2316 times)
