Japanese car giant Toyota said today that its worldwide production suffered the first drop in a year in September on slower domestic sales and exports while its rivals reported robust growth.
The world's largest car maker, which has been battered by a global recall crisis that has affected over 10 million vehicles worldwide, last week announced a further recall of 1.5 million vehicles to fix a brake problem.
The figures come today as a report said the company was facing a near $2 billion hit as it revises down its dollar forecast, with the greenback sitting at 15-year lows against the yen.
Toyota's worldwide production, excluding output by Daihatsu and Hino subsidiaries, fell 1.3% from a year earlier to 672,604 units in September, marking the first year-on-year fall in 12 months.
Domestic production in Japan fell 1.4% from a year ago to 305,853 units, the first drop in 11 months. Sales in Japan shrank for the first time in 14 months on the expiration of government incentives for buyers, falling 6.3% to 133,843 units.
Exports tumbled 11% to 148,836 units, the first drop in nine months, due to decreased exports to North America, Europe and the Middle East as stable petrol prices reduced demand for fuel efficient hybrids.
Shipments to Europe also fell on the expiration of government incentives to replace old cars with newer, environment-friendly models in France, Britain and Italy.
However, Toyota's smaller rivals reported robust figures for both production and exports.
Nissan said its global production soared 27% to 395,658 units, a record for a single month, as exports rose 38.3%. Honda said worldwide production rose 9.2% to 328,368 with exports surging 67.1%.
Japanese car makers, although enjoying strong sales, are struggling to cope with the yen's advance against other currencies, which erodes their overseas revenue when repatriated.
