S&P may downgrade Toyota's rating

• Source: Xinhua
• [08:19 February 08 2010]
• Comments

Rating agency Standard & Poor's warned Friday in Washington it may downgrade Toyota Motor, as the company has lost about $30 billion of its market capitalization in recent weeks.

Toyota continues to face fallout from its global recall of more than 9 million vehicles in two campaigns linked to questions of sudden unintended acceleration, Detroit News reported.

S&P said its new warning stemmed from "increased concern over the potential negative impact on Toyota's business risk profile of unfolding developments related to recent quality issues." Since January 19, Toyota's stock is down more than 20 percent.

Toyota group suppliers Denso, Aisin and Toyota Industries also were put on notice of a downgrade in their investment grade bond ratings.

S&P said it expects to decide by mid-May whether to downgrade Toyota.

The ratings agency also noted new concerns about the braking systems on Toyota Prius vehicles. The third-generation models are under investigation in Japan and the United States by auto safety regulators.