Signage is pictured outside the headquarters of Japanese automaker Toyota in Tokyo on May 8, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
TOKYO, Japan — Toyota said Wednesday that it posted a record net profit of 4.94 trillion yen ($31.9 billion) in the year to March on revenues of 45.1 trillion yen, which was also an all-time high.
But the world’s largest automaker by sales warned net income would fall 27.8 percent this financial year to 3.57 trillion yen because of investments, according to a statement.
The results for 2023-2024 were helped by foreign currency effects, in particular the weak yen, as well as brisk sales, notably of hybrid vehicles.
They exceeded the firm’s forecast in February of a net profit of 4.5 trillion yen on revenues of 43.5 trillion yen.
Toyota’s previous record annual net profit was 2.85 trillion yen in 2021-2022. For revenues, it was 37.15 trillion yen the following fiscal year.
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Last month Toyota said it sold 11.1 million vehicles across all brands in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, up 5 percent and the first time they have exceeded 10 million.
A big factor was a 31-percent jump to 3.7 million in sales of hybrid vehicles — combining internal combustion engines and batteries — like the Corolla compact car and the RAV4 sports utility vehicle.
Sales of purely electric car sales were a much more modest 116,500.
Adoption of purely battery-powered engines
Toyota pioneered hybrid cars with its popular Prius model, but critics say the company has been slow to embrace purely battery-powered engines, even as demand soars for low-emission vehicles.
Japanese automakers are now attempting to play catch-up, with Toyota aiming to sell 1.5 million EVs annually by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030.
The company is also hoping to mass-produce solid-state batteries, a potentially hugely important technological breakthrough that could mean faster charging times and greater range.
In 2023, China overtook Japan as the world’s biggest vehicle exporter, a change fuelled by the country’s dominance in electric cars.
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Toyota was also left standing by Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla in terms of market value, although the gap — almost $1 trillion in 2021 — has narrowed sharply.
Toyota’s market capitalization has soared 34 percent this year, while that of Tesla — which sold 1.8 million vehicles last year — has dived 28 percent over the same period.
In China, the world’s biggest electric car market where local firms such as BYD dominate, Toyota only sold 1.9 million vehicles, a rise of 1.4 percent.