Toyota denies receiving aid request from GM

TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. automaker General Motors Corp has not asked Toyota Motor Corp for help in turning around its business, Toyota said on Thursday, denying a Kyodo news agency report.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Japan's Kyodo reported overnight that cash-hungry GM had asked its rival for help and that it had explored the possibility of its chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, meeting with Toyota's leadership in Japan soon. Toyota declined the overture, Kyodo said.

GM, which posted a $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, has been struggling against declining market share, tight credit markets and cautious consumer spending.

"There is absolutely no truth to the report," the Toyota spokesman said.

GM would only say that executives "routinely discuss issues of mutual interest" with other automakers.

"As a policy, we do not confirm or comment publicly on those private discussions, which in many cases do not lead anywhere," GM said in a statement.

Kyodo said Toyota, if asked, would likely consider quick fixes for GM, including buying assets and helping it to secure funds.

If they meet, the two automakers could also discuss an expanded business partnership, including Toyota making fuel-efficient compact cars for GM and providing hybrid-car technologies to the U.S. carmaker, Kyodo said, without saying where it got the information.

GM has been in talks with Cerberus Capital Management since September about a possible merger with Chrysler LLC, the No.3 U.S. automaker, which is owned by Cerberus. Toyota is the world's largest automaker by sales so far this year, followed by

GM.

Sources familiar with the talks said on Wednesday that the two sides have resolved major issues in a proposed GM-Chrysler merger, but the final form of any deal would depend on financing and any government support available.

GM and Toyota have a number of partnerships, including a joint venture known as NUMMI to build cars in Fremont, California, which began operations in 1984.

Toyota's shares were up 6 percent in early trade in Tokyo on Thursday as the yen fell against major currencies, leading a 3.6 percent rise in the main Nikkei average.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo and Poornima Gupta in Detroit; Editing by Chris Gallagher)