Toyota shuts plants for 11 days

Toyota announced they will temporarily close all of their factories in Japan. The plan to shutter the 12 factories for 11 days through February and March is to combat a rising supply of unsold new cars. Eight of the factories make parts and engines, while the other four produce Toyota vehicles.

This will be the second set of factory closures for Toyota. They initially announced a three-day work stoppage for the beginning of the year. Prior to that, Toyota had not made cutbacks on production since 1993.

That closure was for one day only.

"We are coping with a slump in global sales," Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma told the Associated Press. "Demand in the world auto market is so depressed that every model is falling sharply in sales."

US sales of Toyotas fell by 37 percent this past December, putting it in better position than Chrysler, but worse than GM and Ford. Although many of Toyota's cars for that market are made in the States, roughly 40 percent are made in Japan. Toyota's Japanese sales also dipped by 18 percent in December, and 7.4 percent for 2008.

Also affecting Toyota's revenue is a strong yen and weakened dollar. The currency fluctuation makes U.S.-based purchases of Japanese goods more expensive.

Toyota is set to announce their first annual loss since the company's inaugural year.