Toyota Beats Sales Targets 3rd-Qtr Profit Rises 3.5 %

Japan’s top carmaker and world ranked number two Toyota Motor said its net profit in the three months to December rose 3.5 percent to 296.53 billion yen (2.85 billion dollars) on strong sales in all regions and cost-cutting.

Pretax profit was up 4.1 percent from a year earlier at 447.19 billion yen while operating profit climbed 5.3 percent to 422.9 billion yen on sales of 4.64 trillion yen, up 5.9 percent.

During the third quarter, we exceeded our calendar-year sales targets in every region,” Toyota Motor Corp. executive vice president Ryuji Araki said in a statement.

At the same time, we were able to offset negative effects of currency fluctuations and other factors by implementing initiatives aimed at further growth, including cost reduction and improved operational efforts. Toyota said it had revised its global sales target for the year to March 2005 to 7.29 million vehicles from 7.22 million.

During the third quarter, we exceeded our sales targets in every region,” Executive Vice President Ryuji Araki said in a statement. At the same time, we were able to offset the negative effects of currency fluctuations and other factors by implementing initiatives aimed at further growth, including cost reduction and improved operational efforts.

The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid is investing aggressively in new plant and vehicle technology, chasing profitable growth in all markets and an internal target of 15 percent of the global auto market some time in the next decade. He added, however, that that did not mean profits would fall since the seeds of its past investments were also bearing fruit.

Quarterly net profit grew 3.5 percent to 296.53 billion yen as sales climbed 5.9 percent to 4.644 trillion yen, fueled by healthy sales of high-margin models such as the Crown and Mark X luxury sedans in Japan and the Lexus brand in the United States.