Toyota Motor Corp has applied for a loan backed by the Japanese government to help its finance arm cut funding costs as the global crisis tightens access to credit, a company official said yesterday.

Toyota, facing an operating loss of $4.6 billion this business year, was seeking a loan of about $2.1 billion through its wholly owned car-loan financing firm Toyota Financial Services, public broadcaster NHK TV reported earlier.

Chronic fear of default is making low-cost funds harder to come by, especially in the United States, even for cash-rich companies such as Toyota.