TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. increased its quarterly profit by 94 percent to 562.2 billion yen ($5.5 billion), helped by a weaker yen and strong sales in the United States.
Announcing its April-June results today, Toyota also raised its profit forecast by 8 percent for the year ending March 2014. Full-year net income will probably climb to a six-year high of 1.48 trillion yen ($14.8 billion), and exceed the previous 1.37 trillion yen forecast, Toyota said.
Toyota raised its full-year global production forecast to 10.12 million vehicles from the previous forecast of 9.94 million vehicles, including production at Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. If Toyota reaches that target, it would be the first automaker to build more than 10 million vehicles in a given year.
In the United States, Toyota sold 1.3 million vehicles in January-July, up 8 percent from a year ago. July sales increased 17 percent to 193,394 units, the fastest expansion since January, as the company offered competitive leases and cranked up incentives for its best-selling Camry.
The United States is Toyota's biggest market, accounting for nearly a quarter of its global sales. Its January-July market share dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 14.3 percent.
Weaker yen boost
Toyota is benefiting from Japan's efforts to weaken the yen, which makes exports more profitable. The yen has fallen by almost 13 percent against the dollar this year.
The company's quarterly operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, climbed 88 percent to 663.4 billion yen. Revenue rose 14 percent to 6.26 trillion yen.
Toyota's operating profit from North America unexpectedly fell 30 percent to 82.6 billion yen from 117.6 billion yen a year earlier.
Europe slump
In Europe, where auto demand is slumping to its lowest level in two decades, Toyota reported profit of 5.2 billion yen, or less than 1 percent of revenue.
Toyota has a lower reliance on Europe than companies such as GM and Ford, which are posting losses in the region. Sales of Toyota and Lexus cars were little changed last quarter, keeping Toyota's market share at about 4.5 percent.
Analysts project that Toyota will earn record profit next fiscal year after the company bounced back from a recall crisis, strong yen and natural disasters.
"Toyota is on very solid footing now, it has more opportunities; more tailwinds than headwinds," said Ashvin Chotai, London-based managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia. "The yen is no longer a headache for them, and they should see a good boost in their key markets."
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
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