Thursday, April 24, 2014

Toyota Outsells All Other Carmakers


Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) outsold General Motors Co. (GM) and Volkswagen AG (VOW) for a third straight quarter, helped by rising demand in Japan and China.

Sales at Toyota, including its Hino Motors Ltd. (7205) and Daihatsu Motor Co. (7262) units, rose about 6 percent to 2.58 million units in the January-to-March period, the Japanese automaker said today. Second place is too close to call as GM and VW said they sold about 2.4 million each, and the German company hasn’t disclosed deliveries for the MAN and Scania heavy truck brands.

For President Akio Toyoda, last quarter capped what the company estimates to have been its most profitable fiscal year as Toyota projects a record 1.9 trillion yen profit ($18.5 billion), mainly because of a weaker yen. Still, the maker of the Camry is facing a growing challenge from Wolfsburg, Germany-based VW as both carmakers forecast they’ll sell more than 10 million vehicles in 2014.

“We expect Toyota to hold the No. 1 title in the industry until 2016 or 2017,” said Masatoshi Nishimoto, an analyst at IHS automotive in Tokyo. “For Toyota to maintain the title beyond that, they may need to grow more in China.”

Toyota, whose shares jumped 60 percent last year, has surrendered some of those gains this year after recall-related costs mounted and the yen’s depreciation slowed. They fell 0.2 percent to close at 5,549 yen in Tokyo as the benchmark Topix Index climbed 1 percent.

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