Trouble Ahead? Toyota Reported Cutting Global 2011 Hybrid Production Goal
By John O'Dell August 23, 2010
Does the world's largest automaker see continuing recession in its crystal ball?
An unconfirmed report out of Japan has Toyota planning to build only about 740,000 hybrid car and SUVs next year, down 26 percent from the 1 million target it is thought to previously have set.
That might sound like a big letdown, but consider that it still is a 7 percent hike from this year's anticipated total and a 48 percent increase from Toyota's 2009 global production of 500,000 hybrids.
So, is the glass half full, or a quarter empty?
The report, from Japan's Nikkan Kogyo business newspaper by way of Reuters news service, doesn't identify sources but says the Toyota hybrid production plan was submitted recently to suppliers so they'd know what the automaker expected from them.
Toyota, as is usual, says it doesn't discuss future production plan details.
Like other automakers, though, it is under pressure from governments around the world to continue decreasing its CO2 footprint by increasing the average fuel economy of its fleet - a goal Toyota executives have said the company can best meet through increased production and sales of hybrids.
Thus, if it is cutting planned hybrid production, it either sees a weakening of perceived demand - likely brought about by ongoing economic stagnation - or it anticipates internal problems relating either to reduced capital (and it just reported a $2.3 billion profit for fiscal 2010 and a $2.2 billon profit the first quarter of its fiscal 2011 and raised its revenue projection for the full year by 10 percent) or issues with plant and production line expansion.
LEAVE A COMMENT