Toyota expects to ring up another year of record-breaking profits

PanARMENIAN.Net - Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday, May 8, that it expects to ring up another year of record-breaking profits in the current fiscal year, backed by a weaker yen and strong U.S. sales of sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks, MarketWatch reports.

The world's best-selling auto maker forecasts a Yen2.250 trillion net profit ($18.79 billion) in its business year ending in March 2016 on Yen27.5 trillion in revenue. That compares with the record Yen2.173 trillion net profit that the company generated in the just-ended fiscal year.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda attributed the robust results to "favorable foreign exchange rates and cost reduction efforts" that helped offset increased expenses such as investments to enhance the company's competitiveness.

The company said that it expects to sell 10.15 million vehicles in the current fiscal year, falling short of the 10.168 million vehicles it sold last fiscal year.

In 2014, the Toyota group, including Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., beat the Volkswagen group and General Motors Co., to remain the world's best-selling auto maker. But for the financial year, Volkswagen topped its Japanese rival, selling 10.185 million vehicles.

Toyota's U.S. sales in the first four months of the year grew 8.1% on year, and its market share rose 0.4 percentage points to 14.4%. Sales of light trucks, including the RAV4 SUV, have been particularly strong, backed by cheaper fuel prices.

Toyota is stepping out of a period that Toyoda has characterized as a "willful pause," during which it froze investments in new plants and focused on developing new technologies related to vehicle architecture and manufacturing.

"This year is going to be a major turning point for Toyota on whether it can take a steady step toward stable growth or whether it will go back to its old ways," Toyoda said at a briefing.

Last month, the company said it is investing $1.4 billion to build a new plant in Mexico and expand an existing plant in China. In March, it unveiled details about new vehicle platforms and manufacturing processes aimed at slashing costs.

Toyota is set to start rolling out models built under its revamped, cost-cutting manufacturing process called the Toyota New Global Architecture, an approach that shares a wider range of components among vehicles. The first vehicle fully built under the new process is expected to be the redesigned Prius gas-electric hybrid.