Toyota, Japan's top car maker, posted a surprise jump in six-month operating profit today thanks to robust sales growth in the second quarter, and said it expected record profits again for the full year.
Most analysts had expected Toyota's half-year profits to be flat at best, after operating profit slipped 13 per cent in the April-June first quarter due to a stronger yen.
But Toyota said the euro's rise fully offset the damage from a five-yen fall in the dollar, leaving profits to rise on a 7.4 per cent climb in global sales volume and cost-reducing efforts.
Toyota is by far the most profitable car maker in the world and it continues to expand sales in all main markets - the United States, Japan, Europe and Asia - with a fast-growing model lineup and a reputation for building top-quality vehicles. Its projections stand in contrast to those at rival Honda Motor, which reduced its full-year operating profit forecast last month citing the dollar's 10-yen fall over the past few months.
Third-ranked Nissan Motor has left its projections unchanged, saying currency factors would dampen the impact of stellar volume growth.
Toyota, also the world's most valuable auto maker with a market capitalisation of $111 billion, has been particularly successful in the profitable US market, having expanded its market share to 11.2 per cent in the year to date from 10.4 per cent in 2002, mainly at the expense of Detroit's "Big Three".
Attesting to its strong sales power, Toyota raised its group global sales forecast to 6.57 million units from 6.41 million for the year to March. In North America, it now expects to sell 2.12 million vehicles instead of 2.03 million.