Toyota Motor Corp said Friday its worldwide vehicle production fell for a second consecutive month in October. The world’s largest automaker said it manufactured 613,169 units in October, 13.6 per cent less than a year earlier.
Production figures including the Daihatsu and Hino brands, which are also part of the Toyota group, were down 12.5 per cent to 687,660 units. The carmaker’s total exports from Japan dropped by 8.5 per cent year-on-year, while exports of the Toyota brand dropped were down 8 per cent to 143,499 vehicles.
Toyota reduced output by 7 per cent overseas and by 22.4 per cent domestically, the company said in a statement. The sharp production drop in Japan came as a government subsidy programme aimed at promoting purchases of fuel-efficient cars ended in September. Shares in Toyota declined 0.45 per cent in Tokyo. Toyota’s main domestic competitors Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor co have stepped up production.
Nissan increased its October output by 11.6 per cent to 363.227 vehicles and Honda by 1.4 per cent to 305,406 units, making it the 11th consecutive monthly rise. Nissan also increased exports by 12.4 per cent, while Honda’s dropped by 0,4 per cent.
Domestic production and sales figures dropped for all three leading carmakers due to the end of the government subsidy programme. Toyota also remains weakened by the series of recalls in the US and other markets. Profits rose in the first half of the business year through March 2011, also helped along by cost cutting measures, the carmaker said last month. Second-quarter net profit more than quadrupled year-on—year to 98.7 billion yen (1.17 billion dollars).
Toyota revised upwards its full-year profit forecast to 350 billion yen, but a sizeable chunk of that profit has already been earned in the first months of the year. Sales value is expected to be on par with the previous year’s level at 19 trillion yen, some 500 billion yen lower than previously forecast, Toyota said. One reason is the strong yen, which lowers export revenue when repatriated. Global sales per unit are to increase only slightly from 7.38 million vehicles to 7.41 million vehicles.
