Toyota mulls cutting 1,000 full-time jobs: Report

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp is considering cutting more than 1,000 full-time jobs in North America and the United Kingdom to cope with faltering global demand, a news report said on Friday.

The details of the job cuts will likely be finalised by the end of the month, said the Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, citing an unnamed senior company official. Japan's top automaker could slash more jobs in other regions if global auto sales continue to slump, the daily said.

Toyota spokesman Yuta Kaga declined to confirm the report, saying nothing had been decided.

Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota's North American manufacturing operations, said Toyota is considering "additional steps" after making several production adjustments in recent months, but no decisions have been finalised.

"Current business conditions are not forcing us to make involuntary reductions of Toyota team members," he said in a written statement.

Hit by the collapse in demand for cars, Toyota is expecting to incur its first operating loss in 70 years. The company on Tuesday tapped Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automaker's founder, as president, paying homage to its roots amid a deepening global downturn.

The US-educated Toyoda, 52, is the first founding family member to take the helm at the Japanese auto giant in 14 years.

Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota has been reducing temporary workers at its auto plants in Japan to curb production amid the global recession.