Toyota profit falls 28%

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, posted a 28 percent drop in quarterly net profit, dented by a strong yen and slumping U.S. sales, but kept its forecasts unchanged for what is set to be its most challenging year in recent memory.

“The environment surrounding our business has taken a sharp turn for the worse, leading to a very tough first quarter,” Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita told a news conference. “It will be crucial for us to act quickly and flexibly to overcome this.”

While sales in China, Russia and the Middle East are growing faster than anticipated, Toyota and other automakers face a downward sales spiral in North America, Western Europe and Japan.

Just last month Toyota cut its 2008 global production and sales forecasts and outlined plans to mothball North American factory lines building light trucks such as the Tundra pick-up, which not too long ago named this vehicle the most important product ever for the United States when it was launched last year.