TOKYO — Buoyed by a growing American car market and the most favorable exchange rates in decades, Toyota Motor is closing in on its most profitable year ever, the automaker’s latest earnings report suggested on Wednesday
The Japanese company, which is the largest-volume car producer in the world by a narrow margin — it made a few thousand more vehicles than Volkswagen last year — retains a larger lead when it comes to profit. It has led the global auto industry for as long as many car owners have been driving, barring an ugly stumble during the global financial crisis several years ago.
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Between rising sales and a favorable exchange rate, Toyota earned ¥457 billion in pretax operating profit in North America in the first three quarters, almost 50 percent more than it did a year earlier.
Toyota has also been cutting costs — a response to the pain it endured when the yen rose rapidly during the financial crisis, leading to the first loss for the company since the 1950s. “Cost improvements” added ¥200 billion to its pretax operating profit, only slightly less than the benefit from the currency swing, it said.
