Toyota announces record $14 billion profit

There’s no stopping Toyota. Less than a month after the Japanese giant was announced as the world’s number one carmaker, the superpower today reported that annual profits have risen 19.8% to a record $1.64 trillion yen ($14 billion). Revenues, which rose 13.8%, reached 23.94 trillion yen ($204 billion) for the year ending March 31 with 8.52 million vehicles rolling off the showroom floor.

As Toyota basks in the glory, its major rivals are doing it tough. General Motors, which lost its position as top-dog for the first time ever, lost $2 billion, while Chrysler Group lost $680 million with Ford suffering a massive $12.6 billion blow-out. Even Toyota's Japanese competition, Nissan and Honda saw their profit levels fall since last year’s results.



The Houston Chronicle has reported that GM is planning to accuse Japan of artificially devaluing the yen to benefit its exporters at a congressional hearing later today, while other carmakers will accuse China of doing the same. The purpose of the hearing will be to evaluate whether the US government should attempt to intervene in any way.

Toyota execs are now forecasting an even larger profit for the next financial year with early predictions estimating a slight bump to $1.65 trillion yen. With the rest of the car industry in its wake, Toyota now has the numbers to tackle the mega-rich oil companies.