Toyota has predicted that it will make a loss for the first time since 1941, when the company first reported on its financial performance.
Toyota is widely considered to be one of the best-managed car companies in the world. News that it’s struggling will send shockwaves through the motor industry.
The operating loss, announced this morning by company boss Katsuaki Watanabe, totalled 150bn yen (£1.1bn) up to the end of Toyota’s financial year in March.
“The change that has hit the world economy is of a critical scale that comes once in a hundred years,” said Watanabe.
Toyota is still expected to make a net profit of 50bn yen (£375m), although that figure is a huge drop from the projected 550bn yen (£4bn) at the start of the year. It now expects to sell 8.96 million vehicles globally this year, down 4 per cent from last year.
In a statement, the company said falling car sales had been “far faster, wider and deeper than expected”.
Much of the problem stems from America, where the car market has almost completely collapsed, eating into Toyota’s export margins.
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Re: Toyota in the red
Hello Steve, nice to see you're lurking about here. Who else has re-appeared?? My posting is going to be erratic for some time as i have rather inconveniently lost my job and my home! Still i can muster a pithy comment or two. I was looking for the 'our cars' piccys. Have they gone now or am i suffering from stress stupidity? I suppose on here i should be Porcorosso rather than my other nom de guerre 'max headroom' Merry christmas everyone!
Re: Toyota in the red
I'm sure toyota's loss refers to the financial year end in march 2008. Given the deepening financial crisis i would imagine things wil continue to deteriorate. A withdrawal from F1 certainly wouldn't be a surprise. I don't think theres any short term cjance of toyota being in crisis but the 'easy ride' they have had is over for some time to come. Incidentally, when i sold cars we were told that about three-quarters of all car sales were via finance from one source or another. If this percentage is still the same then the motor industry might very well be in the deep, deep sh!t. Just a thought.
Re: Toyota in the red
"Much of the problem stems from America"
Indeed.