Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan released its financial report on Thursday, stating that its operating profit for the first quarter increased by 17%, in contrast to its peers struggling with losses.
Toyota stated that its total operating profit for the quarter ending in June was 1.3 trillion yen, approximately 8.7 billion US dollars. This is in line with industry analysts' expectations. This quarter, its car sales decreased by 3%, with hybrid electric vehicles accounting for about two fifths of sales.
Toyota still maintains its forecast of a full year profit of 4.3 trillion yen, but this is more conservative than Wall Street's expectation of 5.3 trillion yen. In a statement, it pointed out that despite being unable to maintain stable production in Japan due to certification violations and recalls, Toyota still achieved profit growth with the support of stakeholders.
According to statistics, Toyota's global sales in the first half of 2024 reached 5.162 million vehicles, which is 4.7% lower than the same period last year, but still ranks first in the world.
The strong sales in the North American and European markets offset the weak impact in Asia. The depreciation of the Japanese yen has also driven Toyota's exports to the outside world. In the first half of the year, Toyota's export volume increased by 3.7%, reaching 911446 vehicles.
However, this relatively stable financial report did not bring good news for Toyota's stock price. Before the release of the financial report, the company's stock price had already fallen by 5.5%, and then further declined. As of today's close, the cumulative decline reached 8.48%.
And this is also related to the new violations exposed by Toyota the day before.
Another violation
The Japanese government announced on Wednesday that it has discovered new violations in Toyota's vehicle certification process and is demanding significant reforms from the company.
The Japanese Ministry of Transport stated in a corrective order that on-site inspections have found large-scale undisclosed misconduct and violations in seven other vehicle models. Toyota acknowledges that the corrective order requires a thorough reform to ensure the proper functioning of its business.
Not long ago, Toyota also confidently stated that apart from the violations reported in June regarding the vehicle certification, it had not discovered any new inappropriate behavior.
The new violations involve models such as Toyota RAV4, Toyota Harrier SUV, Toyota Noah, Toyota Prius, Lexus LM minivan, and some discontinued models.
But Toyota claims that these models have no safety issues, so consumers can still drive with confidence. After the Japanese Ministry of Transport confirms that the vehicle model meets the requirements, the company will resume production from early September.