Toyota Motor is likely to report its first annual parent-only operating loss since the company was founded more than 70 years ago, hit by plunging sales and the soaring yen, several Japanese media reported on Friday.

Japan stepped up its warnings against the yen's rise to a 13-year high against the U.S. dollar, saying it would deal appropriately with the situation which may include forex intervention.

The White House said on Tuesday it would not be rushed into giving a lifeline to U.S. automakers, while a 26 percent drop in European sales plus production cutbacks showed the industry in global decline.

Motor Trend said Tuesday it has voted Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 model truck as its 2009 Truck of the Year, the third time in its production history that the half-ton pickup has taken top billing.

Toyota Motor is suspending work on a new plant in Mississippi indefinitely in response to a "steep decline'' in U.S. industrywide auto sales, the automaker said on Monday.

Toyota Motor, the world's top automaker, is expected to slash its 2009 sales forecast by at least 1 million vehicles and outline plans to cut costs as the financial crisis threatens to cripple the industry.

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday an announcement on a auto industry rescue was not imminent, leaving the industry's fate clouded in uncertainty for a little longer.

General Motors is slashing its first-quarter North American production by 60 percent compared with the same period this year, in response to a collapse in U.S. vehicle demand.

If even one of the Big Three goes bankrupt, many of the already struggling auto suppliers will fail, said Wilbur Ross, WL Ross & Co. chairman & CEO of the company.

The Bush administration is considering tapping t he $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund to rescue auto makers but said no decision will be made until Bush returns from his farewell trip to Iraq.

Asian auto stocks went into freefall on Friday after the U.S. Senate rejected a last-ditch compromise to bail out U.S. automakers, increasing the chances of bankruptcy among the Detroit Three.

Share prices of carmakers and associated industries fell sharply on Friday as fallout spread from the U.S. Senate's rejection of a bailout for an auto sector at risk of collapse.

The U.S. Senate failed on Thursday night to reach a last-ditch compromise to bail out automakers, effectively killing any chance of congressional action this year.

By shunning government loans, Ford Motor Co.'s top executives say they hope to buff up the automaker's image and set it apart from its cash-starved Detroit competitors.