Toyota is Growing Fast

Toyota said Wednesday that net profit jumped more than 460 percent in the first quarter, boosted by strong sales fuelled by the recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

The world's top-selling automaker logged a 897.8 billion yen ($8.2 billion) net profit for the three months to June, a record for the first quarter and up from 158.8 billion yen in the same period last year.

But it left its full-year net profit forecast unchanged at 2.3 trillion yen, citing "uncertainties in and after the second quarter".

Toyota has bounced back quicker from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic than its competitors, reclaiming the title of top-selling automaker last year.

Last week, it said group global sales hit a record high for the six months to June, thanks to healthy demand for its Highlander and Camry models in the United States and Corolla and Lexus brands in China.

"The first-quarter results were the result of our maintaining... stable sales and supply, despite the semiconductor shortage and spread of Covid-19," the firm said in a statement.

The Japanese giant has so far weathered a global semiconductor shortage that has forced rivals to slash production targets, but it now faces some disruption.

In June, Toyota temporarily suspended operations at two domestic plants owing to the chip crunch, with a third short hiatus currently underway at a separate factory.

"Semiconductor supplies are expected to remain tight at least until next year, because the global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic should further boost chip demand in many sectors," said Yasuo Imanaka, chief analyst at Rakuten Securities.