Toyota Motor Corp. has lowered its forecast for annual earnings, and is on track to lose its place as the world’s largest automaker.
The firm said Friday it expects to finish the fiscal year ending in March with a net profit of $2.3 billion Cdn, down 54 per cent from the target it projected in August.
It blamed a strong yen and massive flooding in Thailand for the sharp downgrade.
Japan's biggest automaker fell to number three in global rankings for vehicle sales during the first six months, trailing General Motors and Volkswagen.
It cut its estimate for worldwide sales to 7.38 million from the 7.6 million it predicted four months ago.
Japanese car makers were first hit with the earthquake and tsunami in March and their suppliers in Thailand were hit by the worst flooding in half a century this autumn.
The flooding will cut output by 230,000 vehicles, Toyota executive vice president Satoshi Ozawa said.
But among Japan's car makers, Honda Motor Co. has been the worst hit by the floods. It has yet to release forecasts as a result.
Compounding the pain is a strong yen, which hit multiple historic highs against the dollar this year.
With jitters about European and U.S. economies, global investors have turned to the yen as a relative safe haven.
For exporters like Toyota, a strong yen reduces the value of overseas profits when repatriated and makes Japanese products less competitive on prices in markets outside Japan.
With files from The Associated Press
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