Toyota said today that strong US sales and a soft yen had helped it post a healthy jump in April-June profit.
Reporting quarterly earnings for the first time, the auto giant said consolidated operating profit climbed 35.4 per cent from a year earlier to $3.26 billion.
Strong US sales of its luxury Lexus cars, which are exported from Japan, and a weaker yen in the period - which inflates the value of income earned abroad and makes exports more profitable - were responsible for the climb.
But analysts doubted the world's third-largest automaker could sustain the swift earnings growth in coming quarters given a recent rebound in the yen and the possibility of a slowdown in its top export market, the United States.
Although Toyota does not give full-year forecasts, most analysts have said it is still on track to post record profits for the second straight business year, even if the yen were to trade around 115 yen for the rest of year.