Toyota shelves numerous capital investments

Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. is postponing large capital investments in light of the global auto industry’s worsening sales slump and the yen’s continued appreciation. Toyota planned to boost annual production capacity at a Chinese factory that makes vehicles such as the Crown luxury sedan by 50% to 150,000 units by the end of 2009, but the company will now freeze the plan until sales recover. A plant under construction in the state of Mississippi in the U.S. was scheduled to go onstream in 2010, but will be delayed until 2011 or later. The revamping of two production lines at its factory in Takaoka, Aichi Prefecture to 2010 will also be postponed. These postponements are likely to impact a wide range of entities, including parts suppliers, materials makers and equipment manufacturers. (December 14, 2008)