Toyota to cut back Prius hybrid production by 10 per cent

Toyota Motor Corp is cutting back production of the Prius hybrid model by 10 per cent, starting this month, due to a slowing of sales from the last year's peak, agency reports quoted a company source as saying.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, had been rolling out around 50,000 units of the model every month from its two Japanese factories since the third-generation model was launched last May.

Prius sales have continued to rise from the year earlier, but in February dropped about 40 per cent in the US from a peak in October. The present move will reduce this to 45,000 units.

The cutback in production and decline in sales have come on the heels of multiple recalls issued by the auto major since the last autumn.

The Prius recall was issued following instances of brake failure as the cars switched from electric to petrol power especially in bumpy or icy conditions.

Nearly 9,000 Prius cars in the UK were found to be with the defective brake systems. To add to the auto major's woes, there have been claims of Prius vehicles suffering from the runaway accelerator problem of sticking throttle pedals that have led to the largest number of cars in Toyota's various recalls during the winter.