Toyota, a Japanese car-maker, has posted a 28% fall in profit for the first three months of 2008 and predicted its first annual profit fall in seven years.

According to BBC News, “it blamed falling demand in the U.S. and a stronger yen, which makes Japanese exports more expensive. Net income dropped to 316.8bn yen ($3bn) in the quarter to March, down from 440bn yean a year ago.”

Toyota is aiming to beat General Motors (GM) as the world’s biggest car firm. In recent years, Toyota’s profits have boomed driven by the success of its smaller fuel-efficient cars, which are the Yaris and the hybrid Prius, and growing demand in emerging markets that includes Russia, China and the Middle East.

Between January and March this year, Toyota has sold more cars than GM. However, the surging costs of steel, aluminum and copper, in addition to the yen’s steep rise against the U.S. currency is now preventing Toyota from reaping the benefits of its continued expansion in the emerging markets.

To read the entire article from the BBC News, link here:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment