Another Record for Toyota Profits

Profit jumped 39 percent for Toyota in the January-March quarter, as the world’s No. 2 automaker marked its sixth straight record fiscal year of rapidly increasing sales. The company recorded a net profit of 404.1 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in the final quarter of fiscal 2005, which was up 290.7 billion yen in the same quarter of the previous year.
Toyota is on pace to overtake General Motors Corp. as the world’s biggest automaker, with sales rapidly increasing around the world. At a time when gas prices are soaring, the company’s reputation for good mileage has helped them take away U.S. market share from GM and Ford. The only area where sales have stagnated is Japan, with vehicle sales up in every major region of the world.
Banking on the success of fuel-efficient hybrid technology, Toyota is due to roll out its hybrid Camry this summer, a vehicle that could show whether hybrids will join the mainstream automotive market. In the U.S., Toyota and its Lexus division accounted for seven out of ten hybrid sales in 2005. The top-selling Toyota Prius accounted for 53 percent of all U.S. hybrid sales, while the Lexus RX400h crossover was at 9.7 percent.
Toyota said it expects to sell 8.45 million vehicles globally in the fiscal year ending March 2007, up 6 percent from fiscal 2005.