Toyota expects first operating loss

Japanese automaker Toyota, hit by falling overseas demand and a rising yen, said Monday it expects an operating loss in 2008, the first in its history.

The loss in fiscal 2008 ending March is expected to be $1.67 billion, the company said, blaming shrinking global auto sales and the Japanese currency’s appreciation, which makes its vehicles more expensive overseas.

The announcement came on the same day when the Japanese government said the country saw a record fall of 26.7 percent in total November exports, leaving a trade deficit of $2.48 billion for the month.

Toyota’s estimate for this year compared with its record operating profit of $25.28 billion in the previous fiscal year, Kyodo reported.

We are facing unprecedented emergency circumstances, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told a news conference in Nagoya.

Toyota expects a net profit of nearly $557 million in fiscal 2008 but that will be nearly 91 percent down from its previous estimate, the report said. Toyota’s net profit last year was $19.04 billion.

The company also revised its group’s global auto sales target for 2008 to 8.96 million units, down 540,000 units from the previous estimate and 4.4 percent lower than last year’s sales of 9.37 million units.

Toyota also owns compact car maker Daihatsu Motor Co. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd.