Takahiko Ijichi said Toyota is looking for at least a 14% market share in North America, which could challenge Ford Motor which is currently running at 15% in the U.S.
Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan this morning reported Q2 Japanese fiscal year revenues of ¥5.4 trillion ($68.4 billion *), up 18.2% and operating income of ¥340 billion ($4.3 billion) vs. ¥75.4 million last year. Net income soared 220% to ¥257.9 billion ($3.2 billion). As a result, Toyota increased the dividend on its stock to ¥30 per share. With sales of 7.4 million vehicles during the first none months of 2012 or the Western calendar, Toyota is once again the world’s largest automaker, a position it hasn’t held since 2008. General Motors is Number Two, and Volkswagen Group is Number Three.
Major factors contributing to the strong performance included the positive effects from increased vehicle sales of ¥580 billion or 440,00 more units, as well as deep cost reduction efforts of ¥230 billion. Negative effects of currency fluctuations decreased operating income by ¥60 billion.
“In all regions, vehicle sales increased significantly for both the first half and second quarter of this fiscal year because we suffered from the supply disruption due to the Great East Japan Earthquake in the same period last year,” said TMC Senior Managing Officer Takahiko Ijichi on a conference call from Nagoya.
A steady recovery from the man made Great Recession disaster in 2008 and the natural disasters of last year.
“Despite the yen’s appreciation, operating income improved significantly due to the recovery of sales which dropped in the first half of last year and our company-wide profit improvement activities.”
Consolidated vehicle sales for the first half totaled 4.516 million units, an increase of 1.490 million units compared to the same period last fiscal year.
During Q2 in Japan ,vehicle sales totaled 1.19 million, an increase of 395,000 compared to the same period last fiscal year. Operating income from Japanese operations increased by ¥526.7 billion to ¥250.8 billion.
In North America, vehicle sales totaled 1.26 million, an increase of 572,000 compared to the same period last fiscal year. Operating income increased by ¥121.0 billion to ¥182.6 billion, Operating income, excluding the impact of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps, increased by ¥108.7 billion to ¥154.6 billion.
In Europe, vehicle sales totaled 412,000 thousand, an increase of 51,000 compared to the same period last fiscal year, while operating income increased by ¥13.9 billion to ¥12.0 billion.
In Asia, vehicle sales totaled 840,000 thousand, an increase of 225,000 compared to the same period last fiscal year, while operating income increased by ¥63.9 billion to ¥194.5 billion.
In Central and South America, Oceania and Africa, vehicle sales totaled 811,000, an increase of 247,000compared to the same period last fiscal year, while operating income increased by ¥0.6 billion to ¥58.7 billion.
In the financial services segment, operating income increased by ¥3.4 billion to ¥174.5 billion compared to the same period last fiscal year, including ¥26.6 billion of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps. Excluding valuation gains/losses, operating income decreased by ¥15.5 billion to ¥147.8 billion. Ijichi said this was mainly due to reduced reversal of provisions for loan and residual losses in comparison to the same period last year.
TMC also revised its vehicle sales forecast for the full fiscal year ending 31 March 2013 from 8.8 million units to 8.75 million units, a decrease of 50,000 thousand units from TMC’s forecast that was announced in August 2012, due to uncertainties in the Chinese and European markets.
Financial forecasts for the fiscal year have also been revised as follows:
- Consolidated revenue of ¥ 21.3 trillion (*$269 billion)
- Operating income of ¥ 1.05 trillion ($13.2 billion)
- and net income of ¥ 780 billion ($9.8 billion)
See: Japanese Vehicle Production Declines for First Time in 2 Years
*all currency translations are rounded based on an a ¥79:$1 exchange rate.
