Toyota Loses $7.7 Billion, Illustrates Global Auto Slowdown

Today, Toyota announced it lost $7.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009. Earlier this week, GM announced it lost $6 billion over the same time period. We’re not bringing this up as a slap to Toyota or a defense of GM, but to better illustrate the fact that the auto industry as a whole is hurting — it’s not a singular fault of U.S.-based automakers.

GM is obviously running on fumes in terms of money, while Toyota has billions on hand to weather the storm. The strength of the two companies is not equal, to say the least.

But if the company that many consider the strongest automaker in the world is suffering as badly in terms of sales and net profit, it’s harder to write off GM’s problems strictly as poor management.