TOKYO - JAPANESE auto giant Toyota is likely to suffer a 1.1 billion dollar (S$1.64 billion) loss for the second half of the current fiscal year due to a stronger yen and a global industry slump, news reports said on Saturday.

Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to incur an operating loss of some 100 billion yen for the six months to March next year, the Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News said.

It would be Toyota's first interim operating loss since the company introduced US accounting standards in 1999, Asahi said.

In November, Toyota revised downward its net profit forecast to 550 billion yen in the current year to March, down from the 1.25 trillion yen previously projected. That would mark a decline of 68 per cent from the previous year.

But the news reports said Toyota would further downgrade its sales and earnings projections as the company was battered by a sharp decline in global auto sales and the yen's continued appreciation against the dollar.

Toyota assumed a foreign exchange rate of 100 yen against the dollar for the October-March period, but the dollar has fallen to around 90 yen due partly to concern about the future of the troubled US automakers.

Toyota had enjoyed brisk sales and profits as strong interest in its fuel-efficient vehicles put it on course to overtake ailing General Motors as the world's top-selling automaker.

But Toyota is now saying its top managers are reviewing its expansion plans in light of the slump. -- AFP