Toyota Reports 4.7% Rise in Q4 Net Income

Toyota has reported a 4.7% year-on-year rise in net income for Q4 of 2015, to 627.9 billion yen ($5.37 billion), due in part to stronger sales in the US.

The Japanese company, the world’s biggest automaker, also raised its North America sales forecast for the full year to March, because of the higher US demand.

However, operating profit for the quarter fell by 5.3%, missing forecasts.

The car industry has been hurt by a global slowdown, particularly in China.

Toyota said net income for the year to March was still likely to come in at 2.27 trillion yen.

“Our latest forecast remains unchanged from the previous forecast, having reflected both positive factors – such as progress in cost reduction and the weaker-than-expected yen so far,” managing officer Tetsuya Otake said.

In the nine months to December, Toyota said consolidated vehicle sales came in at 6,492,784 vehicles – a decrease of 246,374 compared with the same period last a year earlier.

It said sales in North America had increased by 33,032 vehicles to 2,140,655 because of strong demand from the US.

In Asia, however, vehicle sales fell by 112,478 vehicles to 1,016,235 over the nine months.

In the face of slowing global growth, Toyota has been trying to cut costs and improve productivity at its factories. It has also faced a string of recalls in recent months.

Earlier this week, Toyota announced a recall of 320,000 trucks and SUVs over problems with airbags, saying they could inflate without a collision.

In November 2015, Toyota recalled 1.6 million vehicles equipped with faulty airbags. In October 2015, Toyota recalled 6.5 million vehicles over a faulty window switch.

The company has recalled about 15 million vehicles fitted with the bags since 2013.

On February 5, Toyota also announced a share buyback of about 150 billion yen worth of outstanding shares.

Despite the recall worries, Toyota won back the crown of the world’s largest automaker by sales in the first nine months 2015 from Germany’s Volkswagen.