In an effort to downsize its production, largely due to the global plunge in auto sales, Japanese carmaker Toyota would likely hang up one of its production lines in Japan for over a year.

Going by a Wednesday statement from a Toyota spokesman, the spring of 2010 may see the world's biggest car maker, by sales volume, suspending the No. 2 production line at its Takaoka plant in Toyota City; in its endeavor to slash costs and swing the company to profitability. 

Moreover, according to a source 'in the know', Toyota, which is looking to reduce output capacity, is also considering the suspension of some of its global production lines, including one of the two lines at its Derbyshire auto plant in the UK.

Commenting on the prospective production scale back by Toyota, Yoshifumi Tabei, an analyst at Kazaka Securities, remarked: "The production cut in Japan is positive for its earnings, but there is room for further capacity cuts in the United States and elsewhere."

With the idling of some plants, Toyota, which is essentially struggling with unwarranted 'group-wide' production capacity of 10 million vehicles per year, is reportedly trying to trim its overall capacity by nearly 1 million vehicles per year.

Nonetheless, by holding on to the plants, Toyota will quickly come back to its present capacity once the demand for autos recovers in the coming years.