18 theSun | WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7 2009

business

Toyota orders 11-day

output halt as sales slump
TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp is
to halt production at its Japanese
plants for 11 days in February
and March as a sharp slide in US
sales has left dealers’ lots full of
unsold cars.
A 37% slump in December
sales in Toyota’s biggest market
was its sharpest fall in more than
a quarter of a century and worse
than declines at struggling US
rivals General Motors and Ford
Motor.
“I never expected the crisis
to spread this fast and leave this
deep a scar,” Toyota president
Last Katsuaki Watanabe told report-
train ers at a Tokyo event hosted by
to Japan’s top business lobbies.
Toyota had already announced
London a three-day production halt for
pg 29 this month at its 12 directly oper-
ated Japanese plants – four car
assembly plants and eight for
engines, transmissions and other
components.
A sweeping suspension of
domestic production is almost
unprecedented. In 1993, Toyota
halted output for one day as a
strong yen hammered sales.
Japanese-built cars make up
around 40% of Toyota’s sales in
the United States, where foreign-
made cars and trucks have been
piling up at ports and dealers’
yards.
Automakers everywhere are
cutting back production as con-
sumers, hit by tight credit, shy
away from big-ticket purchases
even as companies dangle gener-
ous sales incentives.
Domestic rivals Honda Motor
Co and Nissan Motor Co have
both cut output plans by at least
200,000 vehicles for the year to
end-March, and analysts expect
further adjustments in January-
March.
Toyota does not disclose the
number of vehicles affected by
production stoppages. Together,
the four Japanese assembly
plants built an average 130,000
vehicles a month in 2007, ac-
cording to latest available data.
Toyota plans to turn the 11 days
in February and March into paid
company holiday, a spokesman
said.
Toyota warned two weeks ago
it would post a first-ever annual
operating loss, blaming a relent-
less sales slide and a crippling
rise in the yen, and said it would
adjust production as needed
beyond January.
Analysts said the dismal US
sales were no surprise and the
outlook for the global car indus-
try remains tough.
“For the stock market to re-
evaluate this sector, there are two
prerequisites: the end of negative
news flow and an outlook for a
return to the black in the next
business year,” Merrill Lynch
auto analyst Koichi Sugimoto
wrote in a client note. “In that
respect, we’d have to say the (US
sales) results were disappoint-
ing.”
Toyota shares rose 1.3%
yesterday, however, outper-
forming the broader market, as
exporters rallied on a softer yen.
– Reuters

briefs
Marks & Spencer to shed
1,000 jobs: Report
LONDON: Clothing-to-food retailer Marks & Spen-
cer is set to axe more than 1,000 jobs, The Times
reported yesterday, bringing further gloom to the
British high street as it struggles under the weight
of the downturn.
The newspaper said M&S, which is seen as a
barometer of British consumer sentiment, would
announce plans to cut nearly 1,000 shop floor jobs
and several hundred more posts in head office
and support sectors today.
Shoppers flocked to heavily-discounted stores
over Christmas and the new year, but analysts
warned the last-minute spending spree would
not be enough to make up the shortfall left by
consumers tightening their belts.
Marks & Spencer announced in early November
that net profit sank 43% in the first half of the year
as it faced tough trading, and The Times said year-on-
year sales over Christmas fell significantly. – AFP
‘Sanyo to axe up to 1,000
workers in revamp’
TOKYO: Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co plans to
cut up to 1,000 jobs to revamp its struggling
businesses before being bought by Panasonic
Corp, a press report said yesterday.
Sanyo Electric is considering shedding
about 500 of its 20,000 regular employees in
Japan, mainly in the semiconductor division,
by the end of March, the Nikkei business daily
reported.
The total number of job cuts, including tem-
porary workers, is expected to reach about
1,000, the daily said.
Several hundred of the 2,000 regular jobs
at wholly owned unit Sanyo Semiconductor
Co are expected to be axed under an early
retirement programme, the Jiji news agency
said. – AFP
ERL to be extended to
new LCCT, says MAHB
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports Hold-
ings Bhd (MAHB), which on Monday an-
nounced plans to go ahead with a permanent
low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) under the
National Airport Master Plan, said that the
existing Express Rail Link (ERL) would be
extended for another 1.5km to connect the
new LCCT with the existing main terminal.
In a press statement signed by its senior
general manager for Finance, Faizal Mansor,
MAHB said it fully supported the develop-
ment of low-fare travel in Malaysia and the
role played by AirAsia.
“The LCCT will be built via a multi-
modular design with each module being able
to handle 15 million passengers a year,” said
MAHB.
“The first phase of the permanent LCCT’s
development would encompass two modules
and a parking apron capable of accommodat-
ing at least 60 aircraft of various sizes and
configurations.
“The design of the airport terminal will
focus on passenger comfort as well as opera-
tional efficiency.”
MAHB said the new terminal would be
seamlessly integrated into KLIA’s current
infrastructure via ERL immediately and via
Aero Train when the second satellite build-
ing is constructed.
Pending the government’s approval, the
first phase of the project would be ready in
2011 and construction cost is expected to be
reasonable due to the availability of existing
infrastructure.
The plan also looks into the possibility of
constructing a third runway paralleled to the
second one.
“This would offer efficient and quick turn-
around for low-cost carriers as there would
then be two runways that would be of equal
distance from the new permanent LCCT and
its parking apron,” said the statement.
MAHB also expects to partake in the
project with its own funds.
On another note, MAHB claimed the
growth of AirAsia would have been hindered
had it stayed at the KL International Airport’s
main terminal.
The design of the current LCCT terminal,
MAHB said, was based on AirAsia’s require-
ments to cater to its business model which
included no aerobridges, no bussing facilities
or dedicated check-in counters or baggage
system.
MAHB also said based on discussions
between the company and AirAsia for the
design of the LCCT in 2003, AirAsia had pro-
jected that it would hit 10 million passengers
a year by 2012.
“Three important events since then, how-
ever, altered this projection.
“First, AirAsia managed to secure more
international rights than originally expected.
“Second, the routes rationalisation exer-
cise provided AirAsia more domestic routes
and third, AirAsia expanded its business
model to include wide-bodied aircraft for
long-haul operations, which was not in its
original plans when the terminal was first
designed.
“Based on AirAsia’s business model, the
terminal apron was only designed for nar-
row-bodied aircraft fleet only.
“In fact, the usage of wide-bodied aircraft
at LCCT will cause congestion and MAHB
suggested that AirAsia should use the main
terminal for its wide-bodied, long-haul op-
erations.
“However, this was not suitable for AirAsia
because they wanted to have a quick transfer
for their passengers.
MAHB said that it had appealed to AirAsia
to open up more check-in counters per flight
and urged the airline to provide additional
ground handling staff for arrival baggage as
there are now six carousels at the arrival hall
instead of two previously.