Toyota chief issues rallying cry

Toyota president Akio Toyoda is assuring shareholders that Japan’s top carmaker has recovered from last year’s disasters even as power shortages continue to dog the country.

The earthquake and tsunami in north eastern Japan and the flooding in Thailand temporarily hobbled Toyota production last year.

But shareholders’ nervousness about electricity stems from the nuclear crisis caused by the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

All of Japan’s reactors are now offline after being shut down for safety checks.

Toyota executive Atsushi Niimi said today that the utility had asked for power consumption cuts of 5% and the company had already achieved it.