"I am sincerely grateful to our customers of more than 7 million people around the world who newly purchased Toyota vehicles.”
Toyota Motor Corporation said this morning in a statement that profits will rise 48% this fiscal year, as it boosts sales in Asia and recovers from record numbers of recalls.
Toyota made a net profit of 112.2 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter compared to a net loss of 765.8 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.
The world’s largest automaker predicts that global sales will increase to 7.29 million units, up 53 thousand units from fiscal year 2010, in what appears to be an extremely conservative forecast.
TMC President Akio Toyoda said, “I am sincerely grateful to our dealers and suppliers who remained fully committed to providing as many cars as possible to customers, and to our employees as well as our overseas business operations for their efforts in working together so that the company will return to its normal state as soon as possible. And finally, above all, I am sincerely grateful to our customers of more than 7 million people around the world who newly purchased Toyota vehicles.”
Subject to the usual caveats, Toyota said net income would rise to 310 billion yen ($3.35 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March, up from 209 billion yen a year earlier. Toyota forecast exchange rates of 90 yen to the dollar and 125 yen to the euro, compared with an average 93 yen against the dollar and 131 yen against the euro last fiscal year.
In the critical U.S. market, Toyota’s sales rose 24% in April as record incentives increased demand for its fuel efficient Corolla and Prius models among others, while ameliorating the impact of recalls of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide unintended acceleration safety defects. This is good news for buyers, as sales incentives will likely continue for some time.
Toyota predicts that North American sales will increase only 1.5% this fiscal year to 2.13 million vehicles. Toyota’s U.S. sales dropped 20% in 2009, when industry wide sales slumped 21% to 10.4 million units, the lowest level since 1982. However, Toyota and Lexus sales in the U.S. have been surging since March, when it introduced widespread and extensive sales incentives.
Toyota Senior Managing Director Takahiko Ijichi said on a conference call this morning that the cost of the recalls was between 170 billion yen and 180 billion yen ($1.95 billion), and 50,000 sales were lost, 50,000 units less than a previous estimate. Toyota did not say how much the recalls would decrease profits this coming year, although the $16.4 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is in the forecast.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in Toyota City yesterday that it will take a couple of months for NHTSA staff to complete the review of almost 500,000 documents and see if more fines are appropriate.