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TOKYO -- Toyota's profit fell 7 percent in its first fiscal quarter as the strong yen and research costs offset higher sales, but Japan's biggest automaker said Wednesday the worst was over and raised its vehicle sales forecast for the full year.
Toyota Motor Corp. earned 266.8 billion yen ($2.4 billion in the April-June quarter, down from 286.6 billion yen the previous year. Quarterly sales surged 10.5 percent to 4.98 trillion yen ($44.7 billion) from 4.5 trillion yen a year earlier.
The automaker said it expects results to improve toward the latter part of the fiscal year as new products roll out.
"The first half of this fiscal year represents the lowest point of the model cycle," said Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki. "We expect improvement from the latter half of this fiscal year through next year."
Still, car sales were booming around the world, rising in Japan, North America, Europe, Asia and even Africa and South America. Toyota sold 1.95 million vehicles worldwide, up 9 percent from 1.79 million.
Toyota, which does not give consolidated profit forecasts, raised its vehicle sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, by 120,000 vehicles to 7.97 million vehicles. Earlier, Toyota had said it expected sales to rise to 7.85 million for this year.
Toyota's global sales last fiscal year rose to 7.4 million vehicles, up 10.3 percent from 6.7 million vehicles, with solid sales growth in North America, Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia.
Toyota's robust sales come at time when U.S. rivals General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are struggling and losing market share in the United States to Asian automakers.
In the just ended quarter, the remodeled Vitz subcompact helped lift sales in Japan, while the popularity of the Avalon sedan, the Prius hybrid and Scion lineup, which is appealing to a younger generation of drivers, pushed up sales in North America.
Toyota said higher research and development costs and losses related to a stronger yen against the dollar contributed to the drop in quarterly profit as well as the absence of the gains achieved the previous year on a reimbursement for a government pension fund.
Toyota Motor Corp. earned 266.8 billion yen ($2.4 billion in the April-June quarter, down from 286.6 billion yen the previous year. Quarterly sales surged 10.5 percent to 4.98 trillion yen ($44.7 billion) from 4.5 trillion yen a year earlier.
The automaker said it expects results to improve toward the latter part of the fiscal year as new products roll out.
"The first half of this fiscal year represents the lowest point of the model cycle," said Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki. "We expect improvement from the latter half of this fiscal year through next year."
Still, car sales were booming around the world, rising in Japan, North America, Europe, Asia and even Africa and South America. Toyota sold 1.95 million vehicles worldwide, up 9 percent from 1.79 million.
Toyota, which does not give consolidated profit forecasts, raised its vehicle sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, by 120,000 vehicles to 7.97 million vehicles. Earlier, Toyota had said it expected sales to rise to 7.85 million for this year.
Toyota's global sales last fiscal year rose to 7.4 million vehicles, up 10.3 percent from 6.7 million vehicles, with solid sales growth in North America, Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia.
Toyota's robust sales come at time when U.S. rivals General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are struggling and losing market share in the United States to Asian automakers.
In the just ended quarter, the remodeled Vitz subcompact helped lift sales in Japan, while the popularity of the Avalon sedan, the Prius hybrid and Scion lineup, which is appealing to a younger generation of drivers, pushed up sales in North America.
Toyota said higher research and development costs and losses related to a stronger yen against the dollar contributed to the drop in quarterly profit as well as the absence of the gains achieved the previous year on a reimbursement for a government pension fund.
