Toyota Motor Corp. logged a gigantic leap in quarterly net profits by posting JPY290.3 billion (EUR3 billion) in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2012, from EUR1.16 billion in the same period in 2011. The company also posted JPY3.4 billion (EUR35.6 million) in first-quarter operating profit in Europe, despite the dwindling demand for cars in the continent. This is in sharp contrast to a EUR68.8 million operating loss in Europe in the fiscal first quarter of 2011, when company started feeling the effects of the natural disasters in Japan. Toyota posted an 11-percent increase in net revenues in Europe for three months ended June 30, 2012, to JPY512 billion (EUR5.3 billion) in Europe.
According to Toyota Senior Managing Officer Takahiko Ijichi, the Japanese automaker predicts car sales in Europe will drop by 5 percent in 2012, which means the continent is heading for the fifth straight of declining volumes. Toyota, however, is not much affected by the current debt crisis in Europe as it is less reliant on the region’s demand than PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, General Motors and Ford.
In contrast to Toyota’s results in Europe, Ford and GM posted $404 million and $361 million in losses during the same quarter. PSA’s automaking division, meanwhile, posted a EUR662 million loss in the first six months of 2012. New-car registrations sales dropped 6 percent in the first half of 2012 to 6,896,348 in Europe. For the rest of the year, Toyota expects the demand for its vehicles in North America and Japan to rise further.
