Thanks to the continued collapse in global new car demand, Japan’s auto production dropped off significantly during the month of March. Virtually all of Japan’s automakers saw massive drop offs last month, with most seeing production declines of more than 40 percent.
According to The Detroit News, Toyota saw its global production fall off 46 percent last month, totaling 472,000 vehicles. Toyota cut its Japanese production by 50 percent in March, with other global markets seeing a 40 percent decline. Toyota will likely post a net loss of $3.6 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2009, the company’s first loss since 1950.
Honda , Japan’s number two automaker behind Toyota , also saw significant sales decline. Honda’s global production fell by 37 percent, while its U.S. manufacturing collapsed by 46 percent, totaling just 45,000 units.
Nissan ’s U.S. production sank 47 percent while Japanese production plummeted 56 percent. Overall, Nissan’s global production was down 45 percent.
Outside of the Big Three Japanese automakers, results were not any better. Mitsubishi ’s March output shrank 57 percent with Mazda ’s production declining by 55 percent.
