Toyota's profits rise 78% on strong sales as the parts crunch eases
Toyota’s profit for the first fiscal quarter jumped to 1.3 trillion yen, or $9 billion, hitting a quarterly record for Japan’s top automaker TOKYO -- Toyota’s profit for the first fiscal quarter jumped to 1.3 trillion yen ($9 billion) — a quarterly record for Japan’s top automaker — as sales grew and parts shortages related to the coronavirus pandemic eased. Toyota Motor Corp.’s April-June net profit rose 78% from 736.8 billion yen the previous year, the company reported Tuesday. Quarterly sales edged up 24% to 10.5 trillion yen ($74 billion) as vehicle sales improved on-year across major markets, including Japan and North America. The difficulty obtaining computer chips that crimped auto production in recent years has eased, although it's unclear when that will get totally fixed, according to Toyota. Quarterly sales totaled 2.3 million vehicles, up from 2 million the previous year. Demand for its hybrid models was especially strong . Toyota has long been a leader in hybrids, w...