Toyota Motor expects to produce 6.5 million vehicles globally on a parent company basis this year, down more than 20 percent from an estimated 8.2 million last year, the Chunichi newspaper reported.
It would be the carmaker's lowest production volume since 2003 and 2004, said the daily, a regional newspaper where Toyota has its main manufacturing base.
Toyota is setting a global sales target for the year of about 7 million vehicles, and plans to produce fewer vehicles because it has a high level of inventories to clear, the paper said.
In Japan, Toyota is aiming to cut its parent-company production to around 3 million vehicles, down from an estimated 4 million last year, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Monday.
A Toyota spokesman said the company had not drawn up an official forecast yet.
If global car market conditions deteriorate further, Toyota's output in Japan could go below 3 million, a level it sees as the minimum required to keep the number of full-time employees at the current level, the Yomiuri said.
It would be the lowest production in Japan by Toyota since 1979, when it rolled out 2.99 million vehicles, the paper said.
The Nikkei business daily reported in its evening edition on Monday that Toyota's group-wide sales, which include minivehicle maker Daihatsu Motor Co (7262.T) and truck unit Hino Motors Ltd (7205.T), would likely fall to around 7 million vehicles in the business year starting in April, down 7 percent from the estimated 7.54 million units for 2008/09.
The paper, which did not cite its sources, said the projection could change depending on market conditions. Toyota usually provides a sales forecast for the business year when it announces its full-year results in May.
Toyota, reeling from sliding sales and a soaring yen, has forecast its first-ever consolidated operating loss for the year to March 31, and has said it wants to improve its business structure to enable it to make profits even if parent-only sales fall to 7 million vehicles, suggesting losses could widen next year.
Toyota's shares were down 1.1 percent at 2,780 yen by late afternoon in mixed trade for auto stocks. The Nikkei average (.N225) rose 0.7 percent.
