AutoBlog: Toyota hammered with $7.7B loss in Q1

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Filed under: Toyota, Earnings/Financials

First quarter financial news has been brutal for all that have reported, but the biggest blow has just come from one of the world's most successful automotive powerhouses. Toyota has posted a Q1 loss of $7.7 billion; the worst loss of the company's 71-year history and worse than even GM's just-reported loss of $6 billion. Toyota now expects to lose $5.5 billion for the year ending March 2010, surpassing the $4.4 billion it lost in the just-concluded year.

The reasons for Toyota's reversal of fortune is well documented. Global sales were down 21.9% last year, with the most stark losses occurring in the U.S. and Europe. The Yen also made strong advances against the U.S. Dollar, further hurting the Japanese automaker. While sales took a big dive during the last fiscal year, Toyota expects to lose another one million unit sales globally in the next year.

Even with Toyota's tremendous struggles, analysts expect it to emerge from the automotive downturn with far less stress than its domestic competition. Years of multi-billion dollar profits have fortified Toyota's balance sheet, giving the Aishi, Japan-based automaker far firmer financial footing.

To weather the downturn, Toyota has already laid off thousands of temporary workers worldwide, and it has also offered buyouts to American workers. The company also postponed construction indefinitely on its Mississippi assembly plant. It's also continued to pare down manufacturing costs, and will likely accelerate those efforts in the year ahead.

[source: Toyota, MSNBC | Photo by Ramin Talaie/Getty]

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Toyota hammered with $7.7B loss in Q1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 May 2009 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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