Toyota Motor Corp. said on Dec. 2 it would cut management bonuses by 10%, excluding top executives, and further reduce domestic production to cope with an industry slump.
About 8,700 managers in Japan will have their year-end bonuses reduced, company spokeswoman Kayo Doi said, as Japan's leading automaker seeks to cut costs in the face of plunging profits. Toyota so far has no plan to reduce the pay of its top executives.
The company also will suspend a production line for its Lexus brand at the Tahara plant in Aichi prefecture for an additional two days at year's end. "We have decided to suspend production at this factory since Lexus vehicles for both the overseas and domestic market are produced here and sales have worsened. We're facing an inventory glut," said Doi.
The firm also plans to suspend production at its subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc. for an additional two days.
Toyota has embarked on cost-cutting measures in response to recessions in Japan and its major export markets in the U.S. and Europe. It has already moved to reduce production at its U.S., Canadian and French factories, and plans to lay off 3,000 temporary workers in Japan.
The global slowdown has badly shaken Japan's automakers, which in recent years have cashed in on worldwide demand for their cars. Japanese new auto sales fell 27.3% in November to hit the lowest since 1969, an industry group said on Dec. 1.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
