World's biggest-selling carmaker now expects to post ¥2.4tn in annual operating profit, up from its previous forecast of ¥2.2tn
Toyota Motor Corp raised its operating profit forecast for the financial year by 9% to a record ¥2.4 trillion yen (£14bn) as the yen, which has fallen against the dollar by some 9% this financial year, buoys profits of the export-oriented car maker.
The world's best-selling automaker said on Tuesday it now expects to post ¥2.4tn in annual operating profit, up from its previous forecast of ¥2.2tn and higher than its pre-Lehman crisis record of ¥2.27tn from six years ago.
The revision was almost in line with the ¥2.44tn estimated by 23 analysts.
For the October-December third quarter, Toyota posted ¥600.5bn in operating profit, above the average estimate of ¥575.9bn and nearly five times what it posted a year ago.
Toyota kept its crown as the world's best-selling auto maker for two years in a row in 2013, beating rivals General Motors and Volkswagen after having sold 9.9m vehicles together with group companies Daihatsu and Hino Motors. In 2014, it plans to sell 10.32m vehicles globally.
Shares in Toyota have jumped around 20% since the start of April 2013, when the financial year began, roughly in line with the benchmark Nikkei average's performance. The stock closed down over 5.5% on Tuesday.
Toyota kept its global consolidated sales outlook for the financial year ending in March at 9.1m vehicles. It expects to sell 50,000 more vehicles in Japan compared with an earlier forecast, while it expects sales to drop in North America by 30,000 vehicles, and drops in some other areas.
Four of the top five US auto sellers on Monday blamed extreme winter weather for poorer-than-expected sales in January, as analysts and executives predicted a rebound in February and March.
Ford and General Motors, as well as Toyota and Honda, saw US car sales plummet in January, missing analysts' estimates for the month.
Sales in the United States, Toyota's biggest market where it is the third biggest car maker after Ford and General Motors, rose 7% in 2013 to around 2.24m vehicles, backed by the strong sales of the Avalon and the Lexus RX. Toyota's US market share was unchanged at 14.4%
While some economists and analysts expect 2014 sales to rise to between 16m and 16.5m vehicles - in 2013, industry sales were at 15.6m vehicles - there is growing concern that competition will intensify, leading to higher incentives and lower profit for companies.
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