Toyota quarterly profit drops 18.5 percent to $1B

TOKYO—Toyota says its July-September profit dropped 18.5 percent to 80.4 billion yen ($1 billion) as it made and sold fewer cars because of parts shortages caused by the March tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan.

Toyota Motor Corp. declined to give a forecast for the full financial year ending March 2012, citing uncertainties about yet another disaster — flooding in Thailand, which has also disrupted supplies and prompted production cuts.

Toyota, Japan’s top automaker, said Tuesday that vehicle sales plunged in the key markets of Japan and North America, but it was making up for some of the losses by strong sales in Asia.