Japan's second-largest car maker Honda Motor said Friday its third quarter net profit surged 40 percent to a record Japanese Yen 115.2 billion (US$968 million) on brisk vehicle sales.
"The profit jumped thanks to strong auto sales, particularly in North America, and our cost-cutting efforts also helped us boost earnings," Honda spokesman Tatsuya Iida said.
Honda's pre-tax profit rose 31.7 percent to a best-ever Japanese Yen 158.7 billion with revenue up 13.3 percent to Japanese Yen 1,989.2 billion, also a record.
Honda sold 702,000 automobiles at home and abroad in the three months to December, up 7.7 percent from the same period last year. Of the total, sales in North America came to 388,000 units, up a robust 11.2 percent from a year earlier.
"The successful launch of Pilots and the brisk sales of CR-Vs contributed to the sales growth in the US," said managing director Satoshi Aoki at a press conference.
Japanese auto sales fell 3.8 percent to around 202,000 units, hit by "declines in sales of such models as the Civic and Stream," Aoki said.
"Domestic demand has been running weaker than we had originally expected and it is not showing any clear signs for an improvement," he said.
The company upgraded its earnings for the full fiscal year to March 2003 on the back of the strong showing by auto sales in North America and Asia.
Its net profit is seen at a record ?430 billion, up 18.6 percent a year earlier, and pre-tax profit will grow to a record Japanese Yen 610 billion, up 10.6 percent, with revenue expected to reach a record Japanese Yen 8 trillion, up 8.7 percent.
"We have made an upbeat forecast in the current fiscal year as our vehicle sales in Asia and North America continue to grow," Iida said.
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