The grandson of Toyota Motor Corp.’s founder is considered the most likely candidate to take over as president of the company next year, according to numerous media reports in Japan and the U.S.

Akio Toyoda, 52, is currently an executive vice president of the Japanese automaker. His grandfather, Kiichiro Toyoda, founded the company.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe, 66, is expected to move to the largely ceremonial chairman’s post next year, according to the reports.

The firm said it expected a loss of 150bn yen (£1.1bn) in yearly operating profits - from its core operations.
Japan also posted a trade deficit of $2.5bn (£1.7bn) in November as exports fell at a record rate. The rising yen saw export levels down 26.7% from a year earlier, the ministry of finance said.

Mazda Motor Corporation has announced the sales launch of limited edition and special edition versions of its mid-size, tall ‘high-roof’ Biante minivan for the Japanese market. The ‘Biante 20S Limited’ and ‘Biante 20CS Limited’ models come specially equipped with popular features, while the ‘Biante 20 NAVI Special’ limited edition adds a highly functional GPS navigation system. These new models go on sale today at all Mazda, Mazda Anfini and Mazda Autozam dealerships throughout Japan.

The special edition ‘Biante 20S Limited’ is based on the best-selling 20S grade and is equipped with popular features such as dual power sliding doors and Mazda’s advanced keyless entry and start system. The ‘Biante 20CS Limited’ is based on the 20CS grade. It features discharge headlights for improved nighttime visibility and ‘cleanable seats’ that are upholstered with easy-wipe fabric to help prevent stains.

The ‘Biante 20 NAVI Special’ limited edition offers special equipment at a smart price. It has a parking assist system with multiple cameras to help the driver and Mazda’s G-BOOK Alpha-compatible HDD navigation system with a voice-control function. Production will be limited to 800 units nationwide.

Citing danger to the national economy, the Bush administration approved an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans in exchange for concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers.

The government will have the option of becoming a stockholder in the companies, much as it has with major banks, in effect partially nationalizing the industry.

At the same time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should release the second $350 billion from the financial rescue fund that it approved in October to bail out huge financial institutions. Tapping the fund for the auto industry basically exhausts the first half of the $700 billion total, he said.

Allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse in the middle of what is already a severe recession is not a responsible course of action, Bush said.

” It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis,” Bush said. “It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession. And it would leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office.”

Japanese carmaker Honda has cut its annual profit forecast by 62% amid falling global car demand and the soaring yen.

Honda has also said it was pulling out of Formula One, blaming the world economic crisis for plans to sell its team.

Toyota Motor Corp. is freezing its plan to build Prius hybrids in the United States as it battles a collapse in global profits by cutting spending.Toyota’s board reached the decision late today, Japan time, to halt the $1.3 billion project near Tupelo, Miss., “due to the steep decline” in the United States. Toyota has no timetable on resuming construction, spokeswoman Barbara McDaniel said. The plant will build the Prius when the project resumes.

U.S. sales of the market-leading hybrid have softened as gasoline prices declined from their summer peak of more than $4 a gallon. In November, the Prius accounted for 8,660 U.S. sales, down from 16,737 a year earlier.

Total Toyota U.S. sales fell 32 percent in November.

The move reflects the increasing pressure on Toyota’s global profits. Last month, Toyota said it will do everything it can to meet a reduced operating profit forecast of about $6.6 billion for the fiscal year that ends March 31 — less than half of its initial projection.

Options include halving the number of temporary workers it employs in Japan, delaying new factory launches and cutting r&d costs, Toyota said. Reducing salaries and bonus payments for directors also is on the table.

Toyota has more than a dozen factory projects in the pipeline, including plans to expand vehicle capacity by more than 55 percent in China in the next few years, and to build new car plants in India and Brazil. It also has a new joint venture factory for batteries due in early 2010 to power hybrid cars.

“It would be natural to expect a delay in new factories,” said Tairiku Sakaguchi, auto analyst at Japan’s Shinko Securities.

Speculation about the Mississippi plant’s future has circulated for weeks as Toyota and the rest of the U.S. auto industry slashed North American production. This is the second time Toyota has changed plans on the Mississippi project, which has begun to draw component suppliers to the area.

Toyota originally announced in February 2007 that it would spend $1.3 billion in Mississippi to produce a new generation of Highlander crossovers. After work began, SUV sales began to soften and demand for hybrids grew as gasoline prides soared. In July of this year, Toyota said it would instead build the Prius there.

Toyota said in a statement it will continue constructing the building, which is about 90 percent completed. But the company said it hadn’t yet ordered the equipment that will go into the plant.

The operation has already hired about 100 people for administrative and management positions. Toyota said: “Their jobs are secure.”

Suzuki Motor Corp. said Chairman Osamu Suzuki will double as president when President Hiroshi Tsuda steps down Thursday for health reasons.

Suzuki said the automaker decided on the personnel change at a board meeting earlier in the day. Tsuda, 63, offered to step down at the beginning of this month. He will serve as an adviser.Suzuki said he has decided to return to the presidency in an emergency step to cope with the rapidly deteriorating business conditions amid the global economic slowdown.

“If we were under normal circumstances, we would let someone younger act as president,” said Suzuki, 78.

“Considering the sharp deterioration of our business environment, however, we have decided to survive the difficulties with someone who has been responsible for company management,” he said.

Suzuki became a board member at age 33 and served as president for 22 years starting in 1978. He effectively led management even after being named chairman in June 2000.

The announcement came after General Motors Corp. recently sold its entire 3 percent stake in Suzuki to raise cash.

Carmakers Nissan and Renault have scaled down plans for joint projects in India after a sharp fall in car sales in the region.

Most of the local auto companies have temporarily closed plants in order to avoid building up unsold stock.

Ford Motor Company is seeking to sell Volvo for as much as $6 billion, and is using JP Morgan Chase & Co as an adviser, according to reports in the United States.

Volvo is the last remaining brand from Ford’s former premium auto group that had included the now-divested Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announces that it officially started production of its “RAV4″ urban SUV at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc.’s (TMMC’s) new and second plant, which is in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.

Guests at a line-off ceremony at the plant included Canada’s Minister of Industry Tony Clement and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. Also attending were TMC President Katsuaki Watanabe and TMMC President Ray Tanguay. Watanabe said: “We started production in nearby Cambridge 20 years ago, and the Woodstock plant reflects our continuing commitment to Canada.”

The plant represents an investment of approximately 1.1 billion Canadian dollars and is the first RAV4 production base outside Japan. Operating on one shift, it will have an annual production capacity of 75,000 units.

TMC has sold 1.25 million units of the RAV4 in North America since it was launched there in 1996.