Toyota Loss Helps Validate Detroit Big Three

(MoneyWatch)  Chrysler, Ford and GM got a symbolic boost from a rival, as Toyota Motor Corp. announced today in Japan it expects to post its first operating loss of the post-World War II era, for the fiscal year ending March 31.

That's an indirect boost for the Detroit Big Three, because it supports their argument that the domestic automakers deserve a U.S. government bailout, in part because the automotive downturn doesn't apply only to them, and isn't exclusively their fault.

In their appeals to Congress, the U.S. automakers were short on accepting blame themselves, and long on blaming high gas prices, the credit crisis and a global recession for the sales downturn and their economic dire straits.

If mighty Toyota is having problems, too, the domestic automakers look at little less-bad by comparison.

To a great extent, Toyota has the same central problem as Chrysler, Ford and GM ?€" namely, slumping auto sales in almost all major markets, especially North America. North America accounts for about 29 percent of Toyota's global unit sales. That's more than Japan, at about 27 percent.

In November, U.S. sales for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands combined fell 33.9 percent; year-to-date sales were down 13.4 percent in the United States, to about 2.1 million, according to AutoData Corp.

In today's announcement, Toyota cut its forecast for worldwide sales by 8.5 percent, to about 7.5 million, for the fiscal year ending March 31. That included reductions for all major markets, such as North America, Japan, Europe, and the rest of Asia.

That spells an operating loss of about $1.5 billion, versus a previous forecast of an operating profit about $6 billion, the company said.