JAPAN'S three largest car makers - Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co ?? cut global production last month as falling home values and gasoline near US$4 a gallon crippled United States demand for trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Toyota reduced global production 17 percent in August, Honda's output fell 4.8 percent, led by a 10.2-percent drop in the US, and Nissan built 5.5 percent fewer vehicles, the companies said in separate statements yesterday.

Toyota cut overseas production the most in 12 years, and Honda was building 50,000 fewer Pilot SUVs and Odyssey minivans than originally planned in the US after truck sales in the country plunged 22 percent last month as banks cut lending and drivers avoided larger vehicles, Bloomberg News reported.

"The US economic slump may also slow down China and other emerging markets,'' said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd.