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Global automakers beat forecasts

A customer checks out Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor’s Prius hybrid model at a showroom in Tokyo yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Leading global automakers yesterday reported better-than-expected results, but remained cautious on the outlook for the industry amid weak demand and tight consumer credit.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s biggest automaker by sales, beat targets with an operating loss of ¥194.9 billion (US$2.05 billion) in the April-June quarter and lifted an earlier cautious outlook, but luxury carmaker BMW said markets were too volatile to make a full-year forecast.

TOYOTA

Toyota, maker of the popular Prius hybrid car, posted its third consecutive quarterly loss, but raised its targets for the full year.

For the year to end-March 2010, Toyota forecast an operating loss of ¥750 billion and a net loss of ¥450 billion, better than its forecasts three months ago for losses of ¥850 billion and ¥550 billion respectively.

However, an executive said it was difficult for the group to gauge demand for vehicles outside Japan.

“Demand is being supported to a large extent by government schemes, and it’s difficult to get a read on how much this will translate into a fundamental recovery in demand,” senior managing director Takahiko Ijichi told a news conference.

Toyota raised its forecasts for global vehicle sales by 100,000 vehicles to 6.6 million, solely on the back of expected sales in Japan, where it has benefited from incentives and tax breaks on more fuel-efficient vehicles.

BMW

BMW, which published earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 114 million euros (US$164 million) for the first half, compared with a Reuters poll average of 42 million euros, said it could not give a forecast for this year’s earnings “due to the highly volatile state of the markets and uncertainty with regard to future economic developments.”

However, the German manufacturer of high-end cars said it saw the downward trend of deliveries to customers seen in the first six months ending.

By 745 GMT, Toyota stock had closed down 1.47 percent before its results publication, while BMW was trading down 1.53 percent at 32.41 euros, against a 1.25 percent fall in the DJ Stoxx European Autos index.

Car sales figures for Germany, Europe’s biggest auto market, which has been strongly supported in recent months by a bonus scheme to encourage drivers to trade in old cars, were due out later yesterday.

Data for the US, France, Italy and Spain released on Monday showed government scrapping incentive schemes boosted sales last month in those markets.
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