Toyota is slashing bonus pay for managers as the Japanese automaker tackles a massive recall in the US and deep losses for the second straight fiscal year.
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday winter bonus payments for 8,700 managers in Japan would be cut by 20 percent.
Japanese workers at major companies such as Toyota get twice-a-year bonus pay in addition to their monthly salaries that reflects the company’s performance.
Toyota announced in the US on Wednesday a massive recall affecting 4 million vehicles to replace the gas pedals that can get stuck in the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
The recall, Toyota’s biggest ever in the US, comes at a time when the maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury car is trying to reverse losses caused by a global slump and strengthening yen.
Earlier this month, Toyota lowered its loss forecast for the fiscal year through next March to ¥200 billion (US$2.2 billion) from its initial projection for a ¥450 billion.
Toyota’s top executives and board have already given up their bonus pay.
The cuts for managers follow a 60 percent year-on-year decline for their summer bonus this year, and a 10 percent cut for their winter bonus last year.
The bonuses for union workers have also been cut. Their winter bonus will average ¥930,000 this year, down 18 percent from the previous year, Toyota said.
The cost of the US recall is expected to be significant because of the sheer number of vehicles.
The Nikkei, Japan’s biggest business newspaper, said the recall cost, although reaching tens of billions of yen, won’t change Toyota’s annual earnings forecast because the company earmarks money for such measures.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source