Toyota Motor Corp yesterday reported an 8.1 percent drop in fiscal third quarter profit, as a global shortage of computer chips and soaring raw material costs hit Japan’s top automaker.
Toyota’s October-to-December profit last year totaled ￥727.9 billion (US$5.56 billion), down from ￥791.7 billion the previous year.
The maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models said it is doing its best to find other chip suppliers to keep up with demand.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Higher material and energy costs slashed profitability, it said.
Toyota kept its global consolidated vehicles sales forecast for the fiscal year that ends in March unchanged at 10.4 million vehicles. That would be little changed from what it sold in the previous fiscal year, at 10.38 million vehicles.
It expects to sell more Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Japan, but fewer in the US and the rest of Asia, it said.
Quarterly sales rose 25 percent to ￥9.75 trillion.
Although its operating income in Japan received a boost from currency fluctuations, in which the Japanese yen has dropped against other currencies, the same phenomenon hurt its profits in the US and Europe, Toyota said.
The US dollar was trading at about ￥115 a year ago, but is now at nearly ￥130.
Toyota expects to earn ￥2.36 trillion in profit for the full fiscal year, unchanged from its earlier forecast. That is lower than its year-ago annual profit of ￥2.85 trillion.
Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company founder, plans to step down as CEO while staying on as chairman, a move apparently aimed at freshening its corporate image and highlighting a shift to electric vehicles.
Incoming Toyota CEO Koji Sato is in his 50s, young by Japanese standards for top management at mainstream companies. He has an engineering background and has worked in the Lexus luxury brand division and at Toyota Gazoo Racing Co.
Sato will be steering Toyota’s move to greener vehicles, including electric and hydrogen-powered cars. The personnel changes, which begin on April 1, need shareholders’ approval, scheduled for the next general meeting.
Separately, Nissan Motor Co yesterday maintained its full-year profit forecasts, saying it expects chip shortages and other disruptions to hit sales volumes, but vowed to fight back through “strict financial discipline.”
The Japanese auto giant said it expects net profit of ￥155 billion in the next financial year, and also left its operating income outlook unchanged.
However, the annual unit sales target has been trimmed by 8 percent to 3.4 million vehicles, due to production setbacks caused by “semiconductor supply shortages, and the impact of the spread of COVID-19 infections in China,” Nissan said.
Net profit in the nine-month period to December tumbled 43 percent year-on-year to ￥115 billion, it said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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