TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Friday posted a 19 percent profit jump for the first quarter, beating estimates and clocking its best quarterly performance in two-and-a-half years on the back of higher sales and cost reductions in Asia.
FILE PHOTO: Visitors look at car models on the Toyota stand during the 88th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, March 7, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
Operating profit at Japan’s largest automaker was 683 billion yen ($6 billion) for April-June. That compared with the 639 billion yen average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Global retail vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 2.6 million units in the quarter, boosted by an 8.5 percent lift in Asia.
For the first six months of 2018, demand for the remodeled Camry helped increase Chinese sales by 5.4 percent, while Thai sales jumped 26 percent.
Together, sales in those countries helped drive a 40.2 percent rise in first-quarter profit in Asia.
In North America, Toyota’s biggest regional market, sales rose 3.2 percent due to a rise in demand for its pick-up trucks, including the Tacoma and Tundra. Still, profit in the region fell 29 percent as sales incentives continued to weigh.
At home, sales fell 6.3 percent, but profitability rose 24 percent due to cost reductions and an increase in vehicles made in Japan and exported overseas.
The automaker maintained its full-year profit forecast to slip 4.2 percent to 2.3 trillion yen, though it is now factoring in one U.S. dollar being worth 106 yen, from an earlier forecast of 105 yen. Overall, it still anticipates a stronger yen to offset the benefits of cost cutting and record-high global vehicle sales.
TARIFFS
Like its domestic rivals, Toyota is
