Toyota is shutting down two elevators at its headquarters to save money. The world's largest carmaker said it will shut down two of eight elevators at its main Tokyo office. This is to save electricity and to cut down on the costs of being in the building. One reason for doing this is the strengthening Japanese yen since the UK voted in June to leave the EU. One dollar was 120 yen in January; now it is just above 100. A stronger yen means Toyota cars are more expensive and profits go down. Toyota's profit for the year ending March 2016 was a record $23 billion.
Toyota said it decided to shut down the elevators several weeks ago because of the rising yen. It is also changing the temperature of air conditioners to save money. Toyota took similar cost-cutting measures after the financial crisis of 2008. That also made the yen stronger against the dollar. Toyota said: "These policies are not new….The key objective for the stoppage of elevators…is to raise awareness amongst employees, and to remind them of the commitment that Toyota has towards the idea of increasing competitiveness through…reducing waste."
