Report: Toyota Cutting Annual Output 27 Percent

Toyota Motor aims to make 6.3 million vehicles in the fiscal year starting in April, a 27 percent drop from its peak output last fiscal year, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday.

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. aims to make 6.3 million vehicles in the fiscal year starting in April, a 27 percent drop from its peak output last fiscal year, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday.

Toyota said the news report is not based on official information released by the company. Amid a deepening global economic downturn, the automaker has not yet unveiled output goals for the upcoming business year, said spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi.

On Wednesday, the world's biggest automaker said its worldwide production in January slid 39.1 percent from a year earlier to 487,984 vehicles.

In the fiscal year through March 2008, Toyota made about 8.6 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota is forecasting its first annual net loss since 1950 as plunging demand for cars, especially in the U.S., and the strong yen pummel earnings.

The company has tapped a member of the founding family, Akio Toyoda, to take over as president in hopes that the 52-year-old can engineer a turnaround.

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