Toyota’s quarterly profit up 10 pct on cheap yen, cost cuts

Toyota Motor Corp posted a third straight year of record first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, easily beating analyst estimates, as costs cuts and currency gains made up for slightly weaker vehicle sales.

Consolidated vehicle sales for the quarter totaled 2.114 million units, a decrease of 127,285 units from past year.

For the period from April to June, the company announced a net income of 646.3bn yen (£3.34bn, $5,2bn) up from 587.7bn yen a year earlier. Abe is trying to end years of falling prices and stimulate growth by increasing government spending and using aggressive monetary policy.

Toyota benefited from the weakness of the yen and the continued economic recovery in North America, where sales grew more than its other key markets. A weak yen makes Japanese products cheaper for foreign buyers, giving the country’s manufacturers an edge over global rivals.

Toyota’s sales with its Chinese joint ventures declined 0.1 per cent in January-March. Just last week, Volkswagen stole Toyota’s crown to become the world’s top carmaker by sales. The automaker said last week that it sold 5.02 million vehicles in the six months through June, trailing the 5.04 million that Volkswagen reported.

Toyota is among a number of auto firms swept up in a massive recall over possibly faulty airbags.