The Toyota Motor group has laid off 800 temporary workers at a factory in Japan due to slumping sales in North America, a company official said Tuesday. A wholly owned Toyota subsidiary on the south-western island of Kyushu laid off 350 temporary workers in June and 450 in July, a company official said. The move, accounting for some 10 percent of the plant's employees, was the largest ever workforce reduction by the unit.
"The cut was mainly due to a slump in sales in the North American market, which forced us to cut production," a company official said, adding that the company plans to raise the number of jobs later this year. The unit, Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc, produces the Lexus and other models. About 60 percent of them are exported to North America. Toyota said Friday its US sales slumped 18.7 percent in July from a year ago as it struggled to meet fierce demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Toyota Motor also announced plans Tuesday to make its South African subsidiary a wholly-owned unit by acquiring the remaining 25 percent stake from joint venture partner Wesco Investments Ltd Toyota, in a close race with General Motors for the title of the world's top automaker, is due to report fiscal first-quarter results on Thursday.