Toyota Output Plans Send GM Stock to 23-Year Low

Shares of General Motors Corp. fell to a 23-year low Tuesday after Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled its lofty production plans for 2006, increasing fears that GM will be toppled by its Japanese rival as the world’s largest automaker.

Toyota said it planned to make 9.06 million cars in 2006 -- a record for the company.

GM shares traded as low as $19.63 before closing at $19.85, down $1.20 for the day. They slid to $19.33 after hours, following news that investor Kirk Kerkorian sold a chunk of his stake.

GM does not provide sales or production forecasts on an annual basis, but some analysts said the current trend pointed to GM’s inevitable tumble to second place for the first time in 70 years.

“Toyota will probably be the largest producer in the world at the end of 2006,” said Fitch Ratings auto analyst Richard Hilgert, citing GM’s slumping sales of large sport utility vehicles.

Burnham Securities analyst David Healy expects GM to produce 9.15 million vehicles in 2006 and predicts that Toyota will surpass GM as the world’s largest automaker in 2007.

Toyota’s production increase of 10% comes when GM is shrinking capacity by slashing 30,000 jobs and closing 12 facilities in North America.

GM has lost nearly $4 billion this year as it struggles with high healthcare and commodities costs, loss of U.S. market share to foreign rivals and sinking sales of large SUVs, its longtime profit generators.

“Investors are reacting to the Toyota figures,” Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan said, “although it shouldn’t be any great surprise.”

To make matters worse at GM, a strike at auto parts supplier Delphi Corp., which filed for bankruptcy protection in October, could shut down plants and force the automaker to burn through billions of dollars a week, analysts say.