Toyota Motoris considering halting exports from Japan of the Corolla sedan from around 2013 and shifting that output overseas due to the strength of the yen, Kyodo news reported on Thursday.
2007 Toyota Corolla
Toyota, the world's largest car maker, said it had not made any decision on shifting output of the popular sedan but that it was always considering ways to optimise its global production structure.
In 2009, the carmaker produced around 235,000 Corollas in Japan, with nearly 60 percent of those shipped overseas, a Toyota official said. Over the same period, Toyota produced about 815,000 Corollas abroad.
The yen's rise to a 15-year high against the dollar is threatening the competitiveness of Japanese exports in overseas markets and prompting manufacturers to consider shifting more output outside Japan.
Shares of Toyota were up 2.2 percent at 2,908 yen. The benchmark Nikkei average was up 1.8 percent.