By Poornima Gupta
DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> on Thursday offered buyouts to some 18,000 U.S. workers and said it would cut pay for executives and blue-collar workers in its North American manufacturing operations in response to plunging auto sales.
The Japanese automaker said it would shut down production for additional days in April at plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It said it would also cut pay and eliminate bonuses for executives.
The unprecedented cost-cutting steps underscore how Toyota -- the world's top automaker and a perennial blue chip in a notoriously volatile sector -- is struggling amid the worst auto slump in decades.
Toyota said the moves were intended to keep as many of its North American workers on the payroll as possible.
"We hope the new measures will help us adjust while protecting jobs," Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing Vice President Jim Wiseman said.
Toyota is on track to post an operating loss of some $4.95 billion for the fiscal year that ends in March. The loss will be the first group-wide operating loss in Toyota's 70-year history.
The automaker has cut North American production of top-selling cars such as the Camry and Corolla after sales dropped 15 percent in 2008 in the United States, Toyota's largest single market.
It has also suspended work on a new plant in Mississippi, slated to produce its Prius hybrid car beginning in 2010. Rivals Honda Motor Co Ltd <7267.T> and Nissan Motor Co Ltd <7201.T> have also been forced to cut output.
Toyota said the buyout program would not be offered at two plants where its workers are unionized.
Those are the joint venture manufacturing operation it has in California with General Motors Corp
(Editing by Christian Wiessner)