Toyota Motor Corp. expects to cut global vehicle production 28 percent this year as the recession douses demand.
Output will fall to 6.68 million vehicles from 9.24 million in 2008, Hideaki Homma, a company spokesman, said Wednesday. Sales will drop 18 percent to 7.34 million vehicles, he said. The figures include the carmaker's Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. subsidiaries.
Toyota, which has enough capacity to build 10 million vehicles a year, has slashed production as rising unemployment and falling wages sap demand in the United States and Japan, its two biggest markets. Auto sales in the U.S. have dropped to the lowest volumes in about 30 years.