Toyota cutting production capacity by up to 1 million vehicles?
Japan's Nikkei has reported that Toyota is will cut production by 10% in its next fiscal year, from ten million to nine million vehicles. To do that, Japan's largest automaker is said to be shutting down an entire production line in its home country for a year-and-a-half starting next spring. There is also speculation that Toyota will shut down a production line in the U.K. as well.
The news come even as Toyota has been putting out more cars due to global scrappage schemes and incentives, and some of its products, like the Lexus HS 250h, can't be made fast enough.
If Toyota does cease production on both lines and close the endangered NUMMI plant in California, that will eliminate 700,000 cars from its annual tally – which would mean more painful measures to be taken, according to the Nikkei report. But unlike its Japanese compatriots at Honda and Nissan, Toyota is still writing in red ink, and it doesn't expect to fully turn the corner in the near term. Toyota's official statement is that it hasn't yet decided on the depth of the cuts.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd | Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Aprime 9:05AM (8/27/2009)
Ehhhhh
I'm not usually the one to say this but, late news is no news, especially when all the big media outlets covered this days ago. Hell, I think you covered it too.
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Erik 10:44AM (8/27/2009)
Late news is definitely NOT no news. I am sure there are a lot of people, myself included, that are reading about this for the first time on Autoblog.
inteller 9:18AM (8/27/2009)
that is what you call a good start. I'm glad to see Toyota is doing their part to save our roads from boredom.
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Luis 9:34AM (8/27/2009)
Not sure why there's all the hate on Toyota. How is Hyundai better? They're products are just as boring save for 1 or 2 models. It's pretty pathetic to write: "They need to get their d**ks knocked in the dirt. " It just shows you uneducated and possibly, what is it, xenophobic, you are.
Give it a rest. It's a sign for the entire industry if a major maker is struggling. GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota, VW. They're all struggling.
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dave1w41 9:53AM (8/27/2009)
No single culture on earth is more xenophobic than the Japanese. It's high time their biggest carmaker and the darling of the automotive media finally starts to take some lumps.
Rick 10:26AM (8/27/2009)
Have you seen a Hyundai lately?
Bloke 11:54AM (8/27/2009)
"No single culture on earth is more xenophobic than the Japanese."
Sounds like you manage to cap them every step of the way, then.
DJ 9:38AM (8/27/2009)
1 Million sounds like a big number, but it's not if you look at this being just a 10% reduction for Toyota and the fact that global sales are down much more than 10%. Over capacity is killing the industry but if you can get away with reducing capacity less that the industry contraction, then you're doing relatively OK.
This post is an obvious attempt at stirring the comment-flamers up (Toyota vs. GM). I suggest balancing posts like this with some industry context.
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DayShifter 10:55AM (8/27/2009)
Neither blog post or the article gives any attention to GM... Hungry AutoBlog trolls may stir something to get in their fix for the day, but I don't see any indication that this post was purposely made to start any comment flame war.
Bloke 9:52AM (8/27/2009)
What some of these idiots need to realise that if either GM, Toyota or any other large manufacturer went belly up, it would only spell bad news for the automotive industry. Less competition is detrimental to the industry and consumer alike.
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dave1w41 10:00AM (8/27/2009)
That's utterly false. There's no lack of competition even if every Japanese car company suddenly disappeared. The Japanese have taken huge advantage of broken trading policies of the US. They have basically done their level best to destroy American manufacturing while being conviniently aided by media who treat them with kid gloves and turn a blind eye to things like vehicle fires, sludged engines, locked up transmissions, etc. The people of Europe learned long ago that it benefits them to buy from the people who put food on their table and pay the bills to keep the lights on in their country.
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Luis 10:16AM (8/27/2009)
just tell that to the thousands of NUMMI employees who will soon be unemployed.
dave1w41 10:21AM (8/27/2009)
Just tell them what? That the first place that Toyota is going to go to cut is not Japan? That's a big shocker there. Thanks for reinforcing exactly what I was saying.
BigMcLargeHuge 11:30AM (8/27/2009)
Biggot alert.
Bloke 11:48AM (8/27/2009)
"The people of Europe learned long ago that it benefits them to buy from the people who put food on their table and pay the bills to keep the lights on in their country."
Precisely. Since the late 1980's, the people of north-east England realised first-hand that companies such as Nissan setting up shop brought along a huge boon for the local economy and renewed pride for those previously experiencing long-term unemployment.
dave1w41 11:51AM (8/27/2009)
bigmclargehuge,
It's B I G O T - it's got only one "T"
If wanting the best for your country and your people (like the Japanese do) and then acting on it on a national and individual level (like the Japanese do) is bigotry then I guess I'm guilty. I'm so ashamed.
Bloke 11:51AM (8/27/2009)
"That's utterly false. There's no lack of competition even if every Japanese car company suddenly disappeared."
I had a feeling you wouldn't latch on to my drift. For every car manufacturer that goes out of business, there's less competition and less competition results in less incentive for remaining manufacturers to act in the best interest of the consumer.
dave1w41 11:54AM (8/27/2009)
Bloke,
Most English people would also tell you that England isn't Europe and it's precisely because of policies like the ones used by the US government that England no longer has a domestic auto industry.
Bloke 11:58AM (8/27/2009)
"Most English people would also tell you that England isn't Europe and it's precisely because of policies like the ones used by the US government that England no longer has a domestic auto industry."
Well there's ignorance the world over, isn't there? The fact of the matter is that there are more cars and commercial vehicles built in Britain now then there was during the days of both BL and the Rootes Group, and the contribution the UK car industry makes towards the country's economy is far higher now than ever it was while those companies were in existence.
A combination of greedy union domination, poor product and ineffective management killed off BL, nothing more.
dave1w41 2:06PM (8/27/2009)
The reasons for the collapse of the British automobile industry I fully agree with you on. However, there is no UK car industry today, because all of these companies building cars in England are part of someone else's car industry. I am highly suspicious of the claim that the economic contribution of vehicle assembly only is anywhere near equivalent to the engineering, design, and production for an entire industry. I'd love you to put up some links to those figures.