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(Reuters) – Toyota Motor Co (7203.T) is set to retrograde its crown as the world's maximal maker after Japan's seism and thermonuclear hardship slashed local output by nearly two-thirds in March.

Japan's machine facet has been effect hornlike by the hardship cod to a shortage mostly of electronic and resin-based parts in the consequence of the magnitude-9.0 seism and resulting tsunami, as substantially as alteration to a field thermonuclear being which disrupted noesis supplies.

Toyota said terminal hebdomad it could verify until the end of the assemblage before creation full recovered.

The world's maximal maker said husbandly creation lapse 62.7 proportionality to 129,491 units in March, while Japan's No.2 Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) said its corresponding amount lapse 52.4 proportionality to 47,590 units.

Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said husbandly creation shrank 62.9 proportionality to 34,754 vehicles.

Toyota is today nearly destined to retrograde the top producer ranking it has held since 2008 to General Motors (GM.N) this year. Toyota sold 8.42 meg vehicles terminal year, superior GM's 8.39 million.

Koji Endo, managing administrator of Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo, said Toyota was today on road to post income of around 6.5 meg units this year.

"Most probable GM module display 8 million-plus and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) module display around 7 million, so most probable Toyota module be third, GM module be first," Endo said.

Toyota, criticized by whatever analysts and investors for its battleful expansion in the early 2000s, played downbound the prospect of losing its top ranking.

"When Toyota became No. 1 there were no champagne corks going soured here," said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco. The March income were the poorest since records began in 1988, he added

NO CLARITY

Japanese automakers hit not prognosticate what effect the creation cuts module hit on earnings, but analysts hit been slashing their forecasts since the disaster.

"In foreign markets consumers hit choices and (non-Japanese makers) belike module verify whatever share, but I conceive it is an unstoppered discourse if those module be sustainable or temporary deal changes -- my surmisal is that they module run to be temporary," said Christopher Richter, an machine shrink at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.

"Probably the perverse programme is in the deal prices and it is just a anxiety of instance before whatever of this constructive programme starts to intend imputed into deal prices."

Shares in the field automakers were slightly weaker on Monday, with Toyota downbound 0.5 percent, Honda downbound 1.3 proportionality and Nissan 1.7 proportionality lower.

Tokyo's transport equipment sub-index (.ITEQP.T) has bounced most 14 proportionality from its post-quake low, but is still more than 6 proportionality beneath where it was before the hardship struck.

In contrast, South Korea's Hyundai Motors (005380.KS) has surged 30 proportionality over the same period, touch a achievement broad terminal hebdomad on expectations it module goodness from the woes of its Asian rivals.

"These are beatific times for South Asiatic carmakers. They module gain mart share, raise utilization rates," said Park Jong-min, a money trainer at ING Investment Management in Seoul. "They module also turn incentives, which module help revilement costs."

The hardship has been a field setback for the world's third-largest economy, with exports dropping faster than prognosticate in March and industrialized output accumulation cod on weekday due to exhibit a achievement decline. Some economists expect industrialized creation to start as such as a quarter, month-on-month, in March.

Uncertainty on the earnings looking is probable to linger substantially into the business assemblage which started on April 1. Many companies are due to refrain from giving 2012 earnings counselling during the underway fourth lodge news season and those that do are due to makeup a bleak picture.

"One source of anxiety is that analysts hit not revilement their estimates for the underway assemblage by rattling much," said Koji Toda, honcho money trainer at Resona Bank in Tokyo. "I conceive many are leaving their figures unchanged because they don't hit sufficiency aggregation to end how farther to revilement them."

For Toyota, 11 analysts who revised their forecasts after the seism prognosticate an cipher operative acquire of 281.9 1000000000 yearning for the assemblage to March 2012.

That is downbound 65 proportionality from the consensus of 804 1000000000 yearning from 21 analysts before the quake, according to composer Reuters I/B/E/S. Toyota announces its results on May 11, but it is not destined if it module provide its own forecast.

(Additional news by Hyunjoo Jin in SEOUL; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Dean Yates)

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