TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday revised up its consolidated operating profit forecast for fiscal 2023 to 4.5 trillion yen from 3 trillion yen, already a record high for a Japanese company.

The auto giant’s net profit estimate for the year ending next March was also upgraded, from 2.58 trillion yen to 3.95 trillion yen, approaching the 4-trillion-yen threshold.

The improved projections reflected a weaker-than-expected yen and growing global sales on the back of economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

The automaker hiked its sales forecast to 43 trillion yen from 38 trillion yen.

“Our profit structure is steadily improving,” Executive Vice President Yoichi Miyazaki told a press conference.

“We’ll strengthen our profit-generating power and accelerate investment for the future,” he also said.

The company’s assumed foreign exchange rates for fiscal 2023 were changed to 141 yen per dollar from 125 yen and to 152 yen per euro from 135 yen. The changes pushed up the operating profit forecast by 1.18 trillion yen.

Toyota posted record sales, operating profit and net profit in the six months through September after struggling a year earlier due to slow production caused by semiconductor shortages.

Its sales stood at 21,981.6 billion yen, up 24.1 pct from a year before, operating profit at 2,559.2 billion yen, up 2.2-fold, and net profit at 2,589.4 billion yen, also up 2.2-fold.

Toyota’s global vehicle sales for the first half of fiscal 2023 climbed 9.1 pct to 5.17 million units. Sales for the whole Toyota group, including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., rose 8.3 pct to 5.59 million units. Both figures were fiscal half record highs.

Meanwhile, Toyota’s global production in the first half grew 12.8 pct to 5.05 million units, topping 5 million units for the first time on a fiscal half basis.

For the full year, Toyota’s global production is estimated at 10.1 million units and the group’s output at 11.38 million units. Production has been “slightly stronger than expected,” Miyazaki said.

Nevertheless, the company faces an unclear outlook mainly due to worries about a U.S. economic slowdown spurred by inflation and Chinese market trends.

Miyazaki noted stiff price competition in China and bleak signs emerging in the Thai and Vietnamese markets.

JIJI Press