Everyone's suffering from the economic downturn.
Toyota Feels Slowdown in U.S.(NYT) TOKYO -- Toyota Motor said Thursday that the slowdown in the United States economy would probably cause its first annual profit drop in nine years, accelerating a shift by it and other Asian car manufacturers into emerging markets like China, Latin America and the Middle East.
The shifting emphasis toward emerging markets is part of a broader trend in the industry, and underscores the declining stature of the United States in the global economy. Both Asian carmakers and American rivals like General Motors have seen a rising portion of sales in emerging markets that were not even a factor a decade ago.
Toyota, now in a dead heat with G.M. to be the world's largest car company, said most of its recent profit growth has come in new markets like Brazil, China and Russia. It said the growth helped offset sluggish sales in the United States, traditionally Toyota's largest and most profitable market, and other mature economies like Europe and Japan.
"Our profit structure has become more geographically balanced, with growing contributions from resource-rich countries and emerging countries," Toyota's president, Katsuaki Watanabe, said in a statement.
This shift has been partly driven by the faltering prospects of the United States market. Declining American sales, along with the weakening dollar and rising material prices, prompted Toyota to forecast a 27.2 percent decline in net profit to 1.25 trillion yen, or $12.5 billion, during the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2009. Last month, Honda Motor projected an 18 percent drop in net profit this fiscal year, citing similar reasons.
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