Automakers, both foreign and domestic, are all in the same boat. Everyone (with the exception of Ford for now) is going to need some aid to get through these rough times.
Toyota’s financing unit is in talks with a Japanese government-backed bank on possible lending, the automaker said today, underlining the serious woes facing the car industry amid plunging global sales.
Toyota Motor Corp. said no details had been decided. Kyodo News and NHK-TV reported earlier in the day, without identifying sources, that Toyota’s auto loan unit, Toyota Financial Services, had asked for a 200 billion yen ($2 billion) government loan.
The Japanese government started the Japan Bank for International Cooperation last year to help their struggling companies. They will pump more money into this fund, and raise the borrowing cap soon. Both Toyota and Nissan have been tight-lipped about their plans, but both companies are facing losses of hundreds of billions of yen due to plunging demand. Toyota is forecast to be down 350 billion, and Nissan...
Nissan Motor Co. has said that it is considering various types of government aid, but it declined to say today whether it was requesting for Japan Bank for International Cooperation loans. Nissan has forecast a 265 billion yen net loss for the fiscal year through March.
Perhaps now our automakers will stop being singled-out for certain southern senators to berate. Yes, there are business practices they need to continue to work on if they want to grow and compete, but they obviously are not alone in their financial struggles.