Japanese car giants bear brunt of downturn

Japan’s top carmakers today reported a sharp plunge in production for January, the latest evidence of how severely the country’s mainstay industry is being hit by the global slowdown.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s biggest manufacturer, said its worldwide production slid 39.1% from a year earlier to 487,984 vehicles in January.

Toyota’s production in Japan was down 34.6%, while overseas production dived 44.2%, the maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models said in a statement.

Worldwide vehicle production at Honda Motor Co. declined 33.5% in January to 226,551 vehicles.

It was the third straight month in which global production for Japan’s second biggest carmaker fell from a year earlier.

Nissan’s global production in January plunged 54% to 145,286 vehicles. Production in the US dived a dramatic 70.7% to 18,741 vehicles.

Mitsubishi said its global production totalled 53,339 in January, down 53.9% and marking the 11th straight month of year-on-year decrease.