HispanicBusiness

Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday raised its net profit outlook 10.3 per cent to 860 billion yen (9.32 billion dollars) for the financial year due to robust sales in Asia, the United States and Canada.

Japan's largest carmaker three months ago estimated a net profit of 780 billion yen for the year that ends March 31.

Toyota also revised up its operating profit forecast to 1.15 trillion yen from 1.05 trillion yen predicted three months earlier, while sales were projected at 21.8 trillion yen, up 2.3 per cent from 21.3 trillion yen.

The forecasts were lifted due to "increased overseas vehicle sales mostly in North America, progress in our companywide profit improvement activities and the slight weakening of the yen," senior managing officer Takahiko Ijichi said.

The carmaker also revised its annual vehicle sales upward to 8.85 million units from 8.75 million units it had projected three months ago due to strong overseas sales, mostly in North America, it said.

Toyota logged a net profit of 99.9 billion yen in the October-to-December quarter, up 23.4 per cent from 80.9 billion yen in the same quarter in 2011.

The carmaker also posted an operating profit of 124.7 billion yen for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with 149.7 billion yen a year before, while sales climbed 9.3 per cent to 5.32 trillion yen.

Sales in the US and Canada jumped 47 per cent from a year earlier to 1.87 million units from April to December, while those in Asia rose 41.8 per cent to 1.27 million units for the same period, Toyota said.

Car sales in China plunged 22.1 per cent year-on-year in November and 15.9 per cent in December amid growing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over a territorial spat, Toyota said.

Japan's purchase of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea in mid-September triggered protests in dozens of Chinese cities and a boycott of Japanese products in the world's second-largest economy.

The Japanese-administered islets are also claimed by Taiwan and China.