Honda Motor Co. said Friday its net profit for the year ended March rose 70.0 percent from a year earlier to a record 1.11 trillion yen ($7.1 billion), boosted by robust sales of hybrid cars and a weak yen.

Operating profit soared 77.0 percent to 1.38 trillion yen on sales of 20.43 trillion yen, up 20.8 percent, the Japanese automaker said. Both figures are record highs.

"Hybrid cars have been our strength. We will continue to leverage them for future growth," CEO Toshihiro Mibe said at a press conference.

Honda sold 4.11 million cars globally in fiscal 2023, up 11.4 percent from the previous year, thanks to a growth of 36.2 percent in North America as more people sought its gasoline-electric hybrid cars amid slowing sales of electric vehicles, the company said.

Its sales in Japan and Europe also grew due to recovering demand following the coronavirus pandemic, while in China, they dropped as competition with local brands intensified.

Honda said the upbeat results came as it worked on reducing the cost of its hybrid systems.

The profitability of its hybrid cars was once notably lower than that of traditional cars but is now almost on the same level as that of gasoline-powered vehicles, according to the automaker.

Honda's global motorcycle sales, meanwhile, inched up 0.3 percent to 18.82 million units as robust sales in India and Brazil offset a decline in Vietnam.

The weak yen, which helps boost Japanese exporters' overseas earnings, pushed up Honda's pretax profit by 151.1 billion yen, it said. Price hikes also contributed to its profit growth.

On a potential tie-up with Nissan Motor Co. announced in March, Mibe said the two firms are in detailed discussions on various topics, including EVs, software and artificial intelligence.

"We don't want the talks to drag on," Mibe said. "It won't take until the end of this year to update you on how the talks went."

For the current business year, Honda projects a net profit to fall 9.7 percent to 1.0 trillion yen on sales of 20.3 trillion yen, down 0.6 percent.

The automaker plans to sell 4.12 million cars and 19.80 million motorcycles globally in fiscal 2024, up 0.3 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.

The company stated that the popularity of hybrid cars in North America is expected to continue, while it will launch its new Ye-branded EV series in China as part of its turnaround strategy.

The company assumed the U.S. dollar to trade at 140 yen on average for the business year, compared with 145 yen the previous year.

==Kyodo

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