Toyota seeks Japanese government assistance

Toyota Motor Corp has applied for a loan backed by the Japanese government to help its finance arm lower its funding costs as the global crisis tightens access to credit, a company official said on Tuesday. Toyota, facing an operating loss of $4.6 billion this business year, was seeking a loan of about $2.1 billion through its wholly owned car-loan financing firm, Toyota Financial Services, public TV broadcaster NHK reported earlier. Chronic fear of default is making low-cost funds harder to come by, especially in the United States, even for cash-rich companies such as Toyota. "Toyota is not in danger. It's out to get the lowest price for funding that the strength of its credit can get," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, an analyst at Okasan Securities. "On the balance sheet, it doesn't matter if the funds are private or public." Toyota, the world's top automaker, is in a much better position than its competitors, which have a higher percentage of loans in arrears, he said. CNBC/Reuters