Toyota profit gets back into gear

Toyota is predicting accelerated earning as it resumed full production after last year’s earthquake, tsunami and Thai floods disrupted supply chains.

President Akio Toyoda seemed to be alluding to the company’s aggressive cost cutting when he told reporters: “The old Toyota would probably be in the red.”

He added: “The new platform of sustainable growth has just begun. I really hope this year will be peaceful so that our efforts start showing tangible results.”

Operating profit at Japan’s top carmaker jumped more than five-fold in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2011.

Toyota expects to treble its operating profit in the current financial year to the equivalent of more than 9.6 billion euros.

Last year’s 2.7 billion euros came as natural disasters cost it around 40,000 vehicles in lost output – roughly nine weeks’ worth of sales in the US.

However the predicted operating profit is less than half what the company made annually before the global financial crisis.

In sales terms Toyota expects to sell 8.8 million vehicles in 2012/2013, up 18 percent from last year.

Copyright © 2013 euronews