Toyota profits to plunge
Japanese car giant Toyota today lowered its profit forecast for the financial year to barely breaking even.
The latest forecast today at 50 billion yen (€394m) is far lower than its profit of 1.7 trillion yen (€1.3bn) earned the previous year to March 2008.
President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters that Toyota – Japan’s biggest car maker – now expects to sell 8.96 million vehicles around the world this year, down 4% from the previous year.
Unlike previous years, he gave no goal for 2009.
Japanese car makers have all been hurt by crashing sales in the key markets, including the US, that followed the world financial crisis.
The surging yen, which erodes overseas earnings of Japanese exporters, has also battered their bottom line. The dollar has fallen to 13-year lows of about 90 yen.
