Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, lost the top credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service as plunging car demand in the U.S. and Japan wipe out earnings.
Moody’s cut the rating to Aa1 from Aaa, potentially driving up borrowing costs for the automaker. The outlook is “negative,” the U.S. company said in a report today.
Toyota may report a quarterly loss today as sales plunge in the U.S., where General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have been forced to seek government bailouts. Incoming president Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company’s founder, is planning to replace most top managers to revive profit, which Moody’s said is also under pressure from the global economic slump and the stronger yen.
“Sales in North America won’t improve any time soon,” said Takashi Aoki, who helps manage about $1.3 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “I’m expecting a big loss for next year, too.”
Toyota has forecast an operating loss of 150 billion yen ($1.65 billion) for the year ending March.
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