Toyota to Cut 2009 Output to Lowest in Seven Years

(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, will slash global vehicle production by 28 percent in 2009 to the lowest in seven years as worldwide vehicle demand plummets.

Global output will fall to 6.68 million vehicles from 9.24 million in 2008, Hideaki Homma, a company spokesman, said today by phone. Sales will drop 18 percent to 7.34 million vehicles, he said. The figures include the carmaker’s Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. subsidiaries.

Toyota, which has enough capacity to build 10 million vehicles a year, has slashed production as rising unemployment and falling wages sap demand in the U.S. and Japan, its two biggest markets. Auto sales in the U.S. have dropped to the lowest volumes in about 30 years.

“The U.S. market slump is having a huge impact on Toyota,” said Hitoshi Yamamoto, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Fortis Asset Management Japan Co., which manages $5.5 billion in Japanese equities. “Toyota’s forecast looks pessimistic.”

The carmaker fell 3.2 percent to 3,620 yen, at the 11 a.m. trading break on the Tokyo stock exchange. It has risen 27 percent this year.

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