Toyota announced on Friday that third-quarter earnings fall 28 % from last year, meaning that the car giant is facing an operating loss for the fiscal year.That news came a day after the automaker, stopped all but one of its Japanese assembly lines, a move worth tens of thousands of workers throughout the country.
For the third quarter ended December 31 of the company mounted an operating loss of 164.7 billion yen ($ 1.8 billion).
"Both revenue and profits are greatly reduced during this period, said Mitsuo Kinoshita, Toyota Executive Vice President ." The negative results are largely due to lower sales volume of vehicles in difficult market conditions. "
Mazda also predicted Wednesday a net loss of 13 billion yen ($ 150 million). Its car sales fell by 9 percent.
Honda, Toyota main Japanese rival, also plans to weak financial results. In December 2009 Honda lowered earnings estimates and cut its forecast for 2008, saying there was "no prospect of recovery" such as car sales and the economy continues to deteriorate.