Toyota Motor Corporation, the world's number one carmaker, warned operating profits will sink to a 13-year low this year.

Other carmakers sought more state help to ride out a financial crisis that is crippling demand and squeezing credit around the globe.

After a week of profit warnings from six of the seven other Japanese carmakers, industry watchers had braced for similar pain at Toyota - until recently the envy of the sector with eight straight years of profit growth.

But a 63 per cent cut in forecast operating profit, to 600 billion yen ($6.1 billion), was far beyond the most pessimistic prediction.

It would be Toyota's lowest profit since 1995-96, and down 74pc from a record 2.2 trillion yen last year.

"I was very much stunned," said Credit Suisse analyst Koji Endo. "First-half profit was already more than 580bn yen, so that means the company is looking at virtually no profit in the second half."

A poll of 17 brokers had forecast 1.34 trillion yen for the year to March next year.

The maker of the Camry sedan, Prius gas-electric hybrid and Tundra pickup has cut production, let go temporary staff and offered buyers unprecedented incentives as sales in key markets slide due to the spreading global crisis.

But its US rivals are in more dire straits. General Motors warned that the industry's prospects are dwindling fast as a "near collapse" in demand for cars accelerates the pace of cash burn.

The chief executives of Detroit's Big Three - GM, Ford Motor and Chrysler - are scheduled to lobby House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi on the need for new and immediate aid, on top of $25bn in loans sought from the outgoing Bush administration.

GM and Ford are expected to post dismal results today. Honda Motor chief executive Takeo Fukui, meanwhile, complained about wild fluctuations in the yen, saying authorities should step in to prevent a sudden rise in the currency - a major culprit for Japanese carmakers' revisions.