Toyota to shed over 1,000 jobs
Car giant Toyota is considering cutting more than 1,000 full-time jobs in the UK and North America amid faltering global demand, it was reported today.
Details of the job cuts will probably be finalised by the end of the month, said the Nikkei, Japan’s top business daily, citing an unnamed senior company official.
Japan’s top car maker could slash more jobs in other regions if world motor sales continued to slump, the report said.
Toyota spokesman Yuta Kaga would not confirm the report, saying nothing had been decided.
Toyota, which runs seven plants in North America, employs 36,000 full-time workers in the region.
The company has about 5,000 full-time staff in the UK, Mr Kaga said.
Hit by the collapse in demand for cars, Toyota is expecting to incur its first operating loss in 70 years. The company named Akio Toyoda, grandson of its founder, as president on Tuesday, paying homage to its roots.
US-educated Toyoda, 52, is the first founding family member to take the helm at Toyota in 14 years.
Like other Japanese car makers, Toyota has been reducing temporary workers at its plants in Japan to curb production amid the global recession.
But the job cuts have so far not affected its full-time workers. If Toyota resorts to cutting full-time staff, it will be the first time since 1950, when the company shed 1,600 full-time jobs in Japan, the Nikkei said.
The company employs 316,000 full-time workers globally, including nearly 70,000 in Japan.
Toyota has been booming in recent years, but it has been hammered by the economic downturn.
The US financial crisis sent auto demand plunging last year in the key North American market.
