- Title: JAPAN: Toyota's new boss warns of two more tough years.
- Date: 26th June 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JUNE 25, 2009) (REUTERS) TOYOTA MOTOR'S NEW PRESIDENT AKIO TOYODA ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NEW PRESIDENT OF TOYOTA MOTOR CORP., AKIO TOYODA, SAYING: "We're seeing two more tough years ahead. But if we unite as one, with all our staff from distribution to sales, we'll get over this tough period and Toyota will return to profit." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NEW PRESIDENT OF TOYOTA MOTOR CORP., AKIO TOYODA, SAYING: "We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses." VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT TOYODA AND OTHER TOP EXECUTIVES POSING FOR PHOTOS VARIOUS OF TOYOTA'S LATEST PRIUS MODEL IN SHOWROOM AICHI, JAPAN (JUNE 25, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF TOYOTA ASSEMBLY PLANT MANUFACTURING HIGH-END "LEXUS" MODELS VARIOUS OF LEXUS ASSEMBLY LINE
- Embargoed: 11th July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA8XAL7S77MH7AC1M2VOALDG9DZ
- Story Text: Toyota Motor's new president, Akio Toyoda, says tough times would persist for about two years but he vows to avoid three consecutive years of losses.
Toyota Motor Corp's new president, the grandson of the group's founder, warned on Thursday (June 25) the auto industry faces another two tough years as he outlined his strategy to return the world's No.1 car company to profit.
"We're seeing two more tough years ahead. But if we unite as one, with all our staff from distribution to sales, we'll get over this tough period and Toyota will return to profit," Akio Toyoda told his first media conference in the job.
Toyota aims to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift its focus to marketing a region-specific vehicle line-up, rather than offering a full line-up in every region, the 53-year-old new boss said.
Most of Toyota's factories around the world are underused as a global recession hammers car sales, which has already sent two of America's three big car makers into receivership.
Facing a second year of record losses, Toyota aims to cut costs from its already lean operations so it can be profitable using just 70 percent of its factory capacity.
"We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses," Toyoda told the news conference in Tokyo.
He said European efforts would focus on hybrid models.
Its remodeled Prius hybrid, launched last month, has been a rare bright spot, winning more than 180,000 orders in Japan.
Production has been limited to two plants so far, creating a bottleneck for delivery, while analysts say the fuel-sipping model could eat into sales of Toyota's other more profitable cars.
Toyoda has said he aims to steer the company "back to basics" -- a promise also made by his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, when he took over in 2005 as Toyota's factories scrambled to meet soaring demand.
At the annual meeting earlier this week, Toyota promised shareholders to do better to recover from a 461 billion yen ($4.8 billion) operating loss.
For the year to March 2010, it has forecast an even bigger loss, of 850 billion yen, although consensus forecasts are for a much smaller loss of 495 billion yen.
Unlike bankrupt U.S. rivals Chrysler and General Motors, Toyota has said it plans to ride out the downturn without slashing full-time jobs.
Many industry executives have said recent sales trends in major markets such as the United States and Japan indicate that demand has bottomed, but opinion is divided over when it will recover convincingly.
In the United States, Toyota's biggest and until recently most profitable market, its sales have dropped 38 percent year to date.
Toyoda, who joined the family firm mid-career, has handled assignments ranging from manufacturing to marketing in a perceived test of his leadership potential.
He joined the Toyota board nine years ago and company officials have never pretended his rise was unrelated to his last name.
But regardless of his family status, if Toyoda cannot put the company back on the road to profit, he and all company officials will feel the heat of being in the driver's seat. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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