Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday its operating profit for the year ended March almost doubled from a year earlier to 5.35 trillion yen ($34.5 billion), becoming the first Japanese company to top the 5 trillion yen mark thanks to robust post-pandemic demand and a weaker yen.

Its net profit for the year doubled to a record 4.94 trillion yen on its highest-ever sales of 45.10 trillion yen, up 21.4 percent, the automaker said.

The record figures came despite a series of quality sandals at its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. and affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. that the automaker said dented its sales.

For the current business year ending March next year, the company projects its net profit to fall 27.8 percent to 3.57 trillion yen as it ramps up investment in human resources, new technologies and supply chains. Sales are projected to climb 2.0 percent to 46 trillion yen.

"We will spend time and money necessary" for addressing issues related to the group firms' safety test rigging, which resulted in temporary shipment halt, Toyota President Koji Sato said at a press conference.

The group's vehicle sales, including those of its subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino Motors Ltd., rose 5.0 percent to 11.09 million units.

A recent slowdown in sales of electric cars worldwide due partly to limited charging station availability and a shorter range than conventional cars, has been a tailwind for the automaker's hybrid cars.

For the Toyota and Lexus brands alone, sales of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles jumped 32.1 percent to 3.59 million units, the automaker said.

The automaker also benefited from the yen's depreciation, which boosted its operating profit by 685 billion yen by inflating overseas profits after repatriation, it said.

For the year ending March next year, the company's earnings outlook is based on an average U.S. dollar rate of 145 yen, unchanged from its assumption for the past year, while the projected euro rate is 160 yen, compared with 157 yen for the previous year.

The automaker group plans to sell 10.95 million vehicles worldwide for the year, down 1.3 percent from the previous year, it said.

==Kyodo

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