Toyota is hoping the next-gen Tacoma will keep the good times rolling sales-wise in the U.S. in 2015.
Toyota Motor Co. delivered a 14% increase in earnings during the most recent quarter, outstripping analysts’ expectations. The maker also said it is raising its forecast for the full fiscal year, even though it cut the estimate of how many vehicles it will sell.
Toyota delivered net earnings of 600 billion yen, or $5.1 billion, between October and December – the third quarter in its fiscal year. Industry analysts surveyed by FactSet had anticipated a profit of 540 billion yen, or $4.6 billion.
The Japanese maker – which remained the world’s best-selling automotive manufacturer in 2014 – credited several factors for the strong performance, including the lift it got from the weakening yen, as well as cost-cutting efforts.
The yen averaged 114 to the dollar during the most recent quarter, compared with 100 during the same period the year before. Exchange rates alone added $1.2 billion to its operating profit.
Toyota reported quarterly sales of 7.17 trillion yen, or $61 billion, a 9% year-over-year increase.
With the yen continuing to weaken, the automaker forecast that it will end the fiscal year on March 31 with a profit of 2.13 trillion yen, a 17% increase. Toyota previously forecast it would earn 2 trillion yen, or $17 billion, for the full fiscal year.
At the same time, Toyota actually cut its sales forecast for the year to 10.15 million worldwide, about 1% less than during the previous fiscal year.
(GM reports 22% earnings increase despite recall costs. For more, Click Here.)
Global sales for the first nine months of Toyota’s fiscal year came in at 6.73 million, off about 50,000 units. But North American sales rose 7.4% to 2.11 million vehicles.
Toyota narrowly hung onto the global sales title last year, when it moves 10.23 million vehicles. But it saw its lead narrow over second-ranked Volkswagen AG. VW has become the dominant player in fast-growing China, the world’s largest automotive market, even as Toyota struggles to maintain traction there. The Japanese maker has been threatened with a revolt by a network of dealers who may abandon the franchise due to weak sales and earnings.
(Click Here for details about FCA’s earnings for 2014.)
Toyota faces other challenges. In Japan, the automotive market has fallen into a slump due to last year’s sales tax hike, and with an additional increase expected, the situation is likely to worsen.
Toyota also was handed a stinging defeat from a U.S. federal jury in Minneapolis on Tuesday. They blamed the automaker for defects in its 1996 Camry model that led to a fatal 2006 crash originally thought to be the result of driver error. The jurors awarded $11 million to the victims of the crash.
(To see more about Ford’s full-year results, Click Here.)
The court case was the latest twist in the so-called unintended acceleration issue that has plagued the Japanese giant since it ordered a series of recalls five years ago. But, Toyota also was exonerated by two separate panels, including one staffed by NASA, which looked into claims that mysterious electronic gremlins could cause some of its vehicles to race out of control without driver input.