Despite being mired in recalls and inquiries into their safety record,Toyota roared back to a profit in the fiscal year that just ended and forecast last week a further increase in earnings. They had a particularly strong performance in the three months through March—the period when the Japanese automaker recalled millions of cars and was under the intense scrutiny of consumers and governments round the world.
Profit for the three months was ¥112bn (€900m, $1.2bn), in contrast to a ¥766bn loss last year, as the automaker slashed costs and introduced aggressive sales incentives that lured customers back to Toyota showrooms.
Quarterly revenue jumped to ¥5.28tr, up from ¥3.54tr last year when car sales slumped in the global financial crisis. Revenues showed an especially strong rebound in the Chinese market and in the United States, while sales in Europe and Japan continued to slump.
Toyota estimate their profit will rise to ¥310bn (€2.5bn) in the year that will end in March 2011. They expect to sell 7.29 million units—53,000 more than this year.
