Toyota Reports Record Loss
Toyota Motor, the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, has reported a loss of $7.7bn for the first three months of this year, its worst result ever.
The Japanese company's latest fiscal results are a dramatic turnaround after it made a record profit of 2.27 trillion yen last year.
It warned on Friday that its net loss would deepen throughout the year because of the global slump in sales, which have fallen 15 per cent over the past year.
Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota's president, said the loss was a result of "the significant deterioration in vehicle sales particularly in the US and Europe, the rapid appreciation of the yen against the US dollar and the euro and the sharp rise in raw materials".
The world's biggest automaker also said that net losses would deepen to 550 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2010.
Toyota has cut thousands of temporary jobs in response to the financial crisis, and its president said more cost cutting measures would be introduced to help the company return to profit.
Robert Wiseman, professor of business at Michigan State University, said Toyota should emerge in good shape in the long run.
"I would expect all global car manufactures to report a loss this fiscal year since car sales are way down," he told the Associated Press.
"What Toyota can do as it waits for the economy to turn around is invest in the next generation of vehicles and work on improving quality control in its production facilities," he said.
The Japanese company's latest fiscal results are a dramatic turnaround after it made a record profit of 2.27 trillion yen last year.
It warned on Friday that its net loss would deepen throughout the year because of the global slump in sales, which have fallen 15 per cent over the past year.
Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota's president, said the loss was a result of "the significant deterioration in vehicle sales particularly in the US and Europe, the rapid appreciation of the yen against the US dollar and the euro and the sharp rise in raw materials".
The world's biggest automaker also said that net losses would deepen to 550 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2010.
Toyota has cut thousands of temporary jobs in response to the financial crisis, and its president said more cost cutting measures would be introduced to help the company return to profit.
Robert Wiseman, professor of business at Michigan State University, said Toyota should emerge in good shape in the long run.
"I would expect all global car manufactures to report a loss this fiscal year since car sales are way down," he told the Associated Press.
"What Toyota can do as it waits for the economy to turn around is invest in the next generation of vehicles and work on improving quality control in its production facilities," he said.
quoted from: Al-Jazeera.Net
