Toyota's financing unit is in talks with a Japanese government-backed bank on possible lending, the automaker said Tuesday, underlining the serious woes facing the car industry amid plunging global sales. Toyota Motor Corp. said no details had been decided. Kyodo News and NHK TV reported earlier in the day, without identifying sources, that Toyota's auto loan unit, Toyota Financial Services, had asked for a $2 billion government loan. The Finance Ministry said Tuesday it will provide an additional $5 billion from its foreign reserves this month to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, to make sure there is ample cash available for needy businesses. Tokyo has about $1 trillion in foreign reserves. Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano also said the ministry stands ready to raise the money pool available for lending in yen from $8 billion now to $10 billion to help companies ride out the deepening global slump. Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan and the Prius hybrid, had been growing solidly before the US financial crisis hit last year. But now it is expecting a 350 billion yen loss for the fiscal year through March, as plunging global demand and a strengthening yen batter earnings.
