Toyota on Thursday announced a surprise 22% rise in quarterly operating profit as the yen’s devaluation and rising sales volumes helped the world’s biggest automaker weather the shock of rising raw material costs. .
The company said it is working to secure a steady supply of semiconductors.
Despite the headwinds, vehicle sales rose in all major regions, with North America, its biggest market, posting 16% growth, double the overall average gain.
Operating profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was 956.7 billion yen ($7.28 billion), compared with analysts’ average estimate of 764.54 billion yen, according to Refinitiv data. In the same period of the previous year, Toyota had reported a profit of 784.4 billion yen.
While it cut its annual production target by about 1% to around 9.1 million vehicles, the automaker stuck to its 2.4 trillion yen annual profit forecast for the year to the end of March.
The Japanese currency hit a 32-year low of 151.94 to the dollar on Oct. 21.
The company had previously expected to assemble 9.7 million cars this fiscal year, but lowered the target to 9.1 million on Thursday.
It also cut its battery electric vehicle sales target after an embarrassing recall of its first battery electric model, the bz4x, over safety concerns.
Source: CNN Brasil
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