Joining the ranks of automakers stung by high gasoline prices and changing consumer preferences, Toyota, Motor Corp. reported a 38.9 percent drop in operating profit on Thursday, Aug. 7.

Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita placed the decline in leased vehicles at around $85.7 billion as compared to General Motors' leasing loss of $2 billion and Ford's $2.1 billion. Chrysler faced losses so severe it left the leasing business entirely.

In his remarks while announcing first-quarter financial results, Kinoshita said, "Relatively speaking, we are selling vehicles at high residual values, and we are not impacted greatly right now."

The company's operating profit fell from $6.43 billion last year to $3.93 billion with revenue declining 4.7 percent to $59.2 billion and net income down 28.1 percent to $3.37 billion.

In response, Toyota reduced its sale target for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 to 8.7 million vehicles down from 8.9 million last year, a significant reduction from the earlier forecast of 9.1 million units for this fiscal year.

"The challenging situation in the North American market is likely to continue for the remainder of this year," said Kinoshita. "Under such circumstances, we need to take action flexibly and promptly in order to improve profitability as we position the North American market as a growth market from a long-term viewpoint."