Toyota Motor Financial Report: Toyota's net profit in Q3 of fiscal year 2024 was 573.7 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 55%

Japanese automaker Toyota said on Monday its profit in July-September plunged by more than half from the same period last year due to a fraud scandal and production stoppages caused by recalls.

Toyota's third-quarter earnings report showed that its net profit for the quarter totaled 573.7 billion yen ($3.7 billion), down 55% from 1.28 trillion yen in the same period last year. Its total quarterly sales still rose slightly, from 11.43 trillion yen last year to 11.44 trillion yen.

Toyota Chief Financial Officer Yoichi Miyazaki said that the main reason for Toyota's production decline in the first half of the fiscal year was its certification issues, and Toyota needed to take time to re-examine its manufacturing environment and culture. Previously, Toyota's many cars were the focus of Japanese authorities because of falsified test data.

Toyota pledged to invest more in human resources and growth to improve its business, while advancing the company's multi-path development plan, which is to promote the launch of hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles according to market demand.

The company also stressed that this investment in talent will extend to its subsidiaries and supply chain, and Toyota's vehicle production is expected to gradually recover in the second half of the fiscal year.

Confidence Remains

Toyota Motor's global car sales in the last fiscal year exceeded 11 million, ranking first in the world. It expects that its sales will reach 10.85 million vehicles in the current fiscal year ending in March next year. However, the latest second-quarter data shows that Toyota's global sales in the quarter were 2.3 million, lower than the expected 2.4 million.

This is directly related to Toyota's continuous quality scandals. The company admitted that there had been widespread quality testing fraud, including falsifying data or using outdated data in crash tests. Because of the exposure of these fraudulent behaviors, Toyota has suspended the production of some models.

In addition to the fraud, Toyota has recalled its vehicles several times in the U.S. The most recent recall of more than 40,000 vehicles was because they lacked a power brake assist system that could extend stopping distances, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

However, although Toyota's business has been hit hard this year, it still insisted that the full-year dividend will increase to 90 yen from 75 yen last year, and maintained its full-year operating profit forecast of 4.3 trillion yen.

In addition to Toyota, other Japanese automakers also broke out in fake news at almost the same time, including well-known brands such as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha.

Among them, Honda also announced its results later today. In the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 ending recently, Honda's operating profit for the quarter was 257.9 billion yen, far lower than the 431.1 billion yen generally expected by analysts.

From Cailianshe