Toyota may trim 2012 production target

Toyota may trim 2012 production target
TOKYO (Reuters) Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to produce fewer vehicles next year than it had initially told its suppliers to expect, due to weakening demand in Europe and elsewhere, the Nikkei business daily reported today without quoting sources.

The new target of 8.65 million units would still set a new record -- and be slightly higher than its yearly production record of 8.53 million vehicles set in 2007. It would be about 20 percent more than the automaker's expected output this year, the newspaper reported.

But the company had, in August, told its suppliers to expect worldwide output of up to 8.9 million units next year, according to the daily.

The automaker is expected to finalize its 2012 production plans and notify major parts suppliers as early as next week, the Nikkei said.

For the current year, it had expected to produce 7.7 million vehicles, but is likely to manufacture only about 7 million due to problems caused by the Tsunami in Japan and the floods in Thailand earlier this year, the daily reported.

The next year will also see new plants come into production in China in the first half and in Brazil in the second half to meet growing demand from Asia and South America, Nikkei said.

Toyota will also come up with entry-level cars priced at around 1 million yen ($12,900) to target first-time buyers in emerging countries and raise its market share in such markets from around 8 percent to 10 percent, the paper added.

It intends to maintain its Japanese production at 3 million units as a cut in the Japanese automobile tonnage tax and a reinstatement of eco-car subsidies is likely to help domestic sales, the newspaper reported.

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