REFILE-UPDATE 1-Toyota's new boss warns of two more tough years

Thu Jun 25, 2009 2:23am EDT
 
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(Corrects link to Japan auto production table)

* Toyota pres: tough times to continue for about 2 years

* Toyoda vows to avoid three consecutive years of losses

* To set models by region, Europe to focus on hybrids

* North American models to be more autonomous

By Chang-Ran Kim; Asia Autos Correspondent

TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) - The new head of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's biggest car maker, warned on Thursday the autos industry faces two years of tough times, as he outlined his strategy to get the company back to profits.

Toyota aimed to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift focus to marketing region-specific vehicle lineup, instead of providing a full line-up in every region, newly appointed President Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company founder, told his first media conference in the job.

Most of Toyota's factories around the world are underused as a global recession hammers car sales, sending two of America's three big car makers into receivership.

Facing a second straight year of record losses for the current year to March 2010, Toyota aims to cut costs from its already lean operations so it can be profitable using just 70 percent of its factory capacity.

"We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses," Toyoda told reporters.

Toyoda said European efforts would focus on hybrids.

The company's remodelled Prius hybrid, launched last month, has been a rare bright spot, receiving more than 180,000 orders in Japan.

Production has been limited to two plants so far, creating a bottleneck for delivery, while analysts say the fuel-sipping model could eat into sales of other more profitable cars.

Toyoda has said he would aim to steer the company founded by his grandfather "back to basics" -- a promise also made by his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, when he took over in 2005 as its factories scrambled to meet soaring demand. [ID:nT66703]

At the annual general meeting this week, Toyota promised shareholders to do better to recover from a 461 billion yen ($4.8 billion) operating loss. [ID:nT82556] [ID:nT125047]  Continued...