Toyota sees losses deepening this year

Toyota Motor Corp. lost 765.8 billion yen ($7.7 billion) in the January-March quarter — a bigger loss than General Motors reported — resulting in its worst fiscal year since the Japanese automaker was founded in 1937.

Toyota also warned Friday that because of the global auto slump its net loss would deepen in the year through March 2010 to 550 billion yen ($5.55 billion) from 436.94 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in the just-ended fiscal year.

President Katsuaki Watanabe said the devastating results were caused by "the significant deterioration in vehicle sales particularly in the U.S. and Europe," the strong yen and the rising cost of raw materials. Detroit News