Toyota to halve local production in Feb-April: report

An employee works at Toyota Motor Corp's rental branch in Nagoya, central Japan, December 25, 2008.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's largest car maker, is planning to halve domestic production in February-April from a year earlier in response to slumping global sales, the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to the Asahi, Toyota is planning to cut production to roughly 9,000 vehicles a day during that period, a move that may also involve periodic production halts at domestic plants.

Toyota on Friday said it would cut production at several North American plants over the next several months in a bid to halve its inventory of vehicles.

Toyota, which has warned it will post its first-ever operating loss this business year, said last week it would halt production at its Japanese plants for 11 days in February and March.

Separately, Kyodo news agency said Toyota was suspending operations at 11 of its 12 domestic factories on Saturday.

Officials at Toyota were not available for comment.

Automakers are grappling with slumping sales in the mature markets of North America, Europe and Japan as well as slowing sales in emerging markets such as India, China and Russia amid a spreading global recession.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Ben Tan)