Toyota could halt production at its United Kingdom production facilities in a bid to match global production with falling sales according to a report published today by Reuters Newsagency.
Japanese production will also be halted for approximately six months from early next year, Reuters said.
Toyota has also previously said it will decide this month on the future of New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI), a California-based joint venture car plant that its partner General Motors has already abandoned.
If the three moves go ahead Toyota would cut between 700,000 and 1,000,000 vehicles from its total annual output of 10 million.
The report went on to say that the extent and timing of the output cuts had not yet been set in concrete though Japan’s Nikkei business daily hinted previously that Toyota plans to reduce its global capacity were as high as 10 per cent (or 1 million vehicles) and that this could happen as early as the current financial year that ends March 31, 2010.
Although its hardly good news for the 4000 plus employees at the UK plant the move would see Toyota return to an operating profit in the 2010 fiscal year.
