Toyota skids into 78 bn yen Q1 loss

Battered by plunging sales and surging yen, Japanese car maker Toyota has reported a loss of 78 billion yen for the three months ended June 30, 2009.

The auto maker had a profit of 353.65 billion yen in the same period a year ago, Toyota said in a statement.

Total net revenues declined to 3,836 billion yen for the first quarter of the current fiscal (2009-10) as against 6,215.13 billion yen in the corresponding period a year ago.

"Although we were able to make certain improvements in fixed cost and cost reduction efforts, the decline in vehicle sales and the appreciation of the Japanese yen had a severe impact on our earnings," Toyota Motor Corporation senior managing director Takahiko Ijichi said.

In the wake of the raging financial crisis, many of the auto makers are witnessing fall in sales as customers are cutting down their spendings.

Vehicle unit sales in Japan decreased by 1,05,000 units, or 20.6 per cent, to 4,07,000 units in the first quarter.

During the same period, overseas vehicle unit sales also dropped by 6,80 000 units, or 40.6 per cent, to 9,94,000 units.

In Asia, vehicle sales stood at 1,94,000 units in the June quarter of this year, a fall of 68,000 units from the same period last fiscal year.

For the fiscal year ended March 2010, Toyota has raised its forecast of consolidated vehicle sales to 6.6 million units from 6.5 million, reflecting improving vehicle sales in Japan.

". . .the upward revision of Japanese sales reflects the positive effects of the Government's measures such as the 'eco-car tax break' being felt throughout the market".

"In addition, the recently launched new hybrid models such as the third generation Prius and the Lexus HS250h have received a very positive response from our customers," Ijichi said.

For the current fiscal, Toyota is expecting a net revenues of 16.8 trillion yen and a net loss of 450 billion yen.