40% of Toyota Execs to be Laid Off

It was only recently that Toyota reported the first loss in their 71-year history. Totalling an astronomical, $7.87 billion US, Toyota’s loss in the last quarter is even higher than that posted by their madly-cost-cutting competitor, GM. Although murmurings of dissent in Toyota’s financial department were seeing the light of day every so often, the depressing destruction of Detroit won far more press time, leaving Toyota’s problems to fester.

However, with a new president set to be sworn in at Toyota’s Japanese headquarters, early reports indicate a massive shuffling of executives in the upcoming months, with potentially 40% of the brand’s bigwigs looking at pink slips. All part of Toyota’s plan to cut $8.22 billion US in operating costs, the move is shockingly similar to those exec-u-cuts made in Detroit in the last few years as Chrysler, Ford, and GM struggled to make ends meet. Could the North American automaker crunch become a pandemic?