Toyota Credit Rating Cut by Moody’s on Weak Profit Outlook

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp.’s credit rating was cut today by Moody’s Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings said it may also downgrade the world’s biggest carmaker as recalls of more than 8 million vehicles ravage profit, Bloomberg reported.

The rating was reduced to Aa2, the third-highest grade, from Aa1, according to a statement from Moody’s, which stripped Toyota of the top Aaa rating last year. Fitch will examine the company’s creditworthiness and a downgrade is a “possibility,’ senior analyst Jeong Min Pak said in an interview.

Toyota faces at least 180 consumer and shareholder lawsuits stemming from recalls due to unintended acceleration and may suffer $2 billion in lost sales and warranty repairs. The company recalled its Lexus GX 460 SUV and agreed to pay a record $16.4 million U.S. fine this month, further tarnishing its reputation for safety under President Akio Toyoda.

Increased costs related to the recalls “will hurt Toyota down the road,” said Pearlyn Wong, an investment analyst in Singapore at Bank Julius Baer Co., which manages about $350 billion worldwide. “Litigation costs are very hard to model.”

Toyota faces a “material risk” that its operating profit margin will remain well below what is appropriate for its rating “until 2012 at the earliest and possibly beyond,” Moody’s analyst Tadashi Usui wrote.

Fitch will examine Toyota “closely” in the next six months, said Jeong Min Pak, a senior director at the company, by phone from Seoul.

Separately, Moody’s also downgraded Denso Corp.’s credit rating to Aa3 from Aa2. Denso, which is 22.54 percent owned by Toyota, produces electronic and other parts for automobiles.