In the first three months of this year, the Toyota group, which includes minicar maker Daihatsu and truck producer Hino Motors, outsold G.M., a first in 76 years, by 109,000 vehicles.  Toyota also said its profits got a boost from a weak Japanese yen, which makes its products cheaper in overseas markets. Detroit automakers have grumbled that the weak currency gives Japanese rivals an unfair advantage. Earlier this week, sales statistics showed that foreign brand autos outsold the Big Three in the United States for the first time ever.  Despite Friday’s upbeat earnings, analysts said concerns remain whether Toyota can keep its momentum, especially if the yen stopped falling against the dollar. They said another fear was that recent problems with subprime mortgages in the United States may spread into other types of lending, including financing of autos. They said Toyota and other carmakers could face losses if American consumers start defaulting on auto loans.  There are also concerns that the subprime problems could seep into the overall U.S. economy, causing a slowdown that hurts auto sales. Such concerns were fed earlier in the week, when automakers including Toyota reported drops in sales during July.  “Looking forward, the biggest questions now are what will happen with the subprime finance problems and U.S. sales,” said Atsushi Kawai, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo. “The American market is the key.”  On Friday, Toyota tried to allay those concerns. Takeshi Suzuki, a senior managing director, told reporters that U.S. sales were still on an upward trend, despite the July drop. Toyota also continued a meteoric growth streak that has helped make it the world’s most profitable automaker.  On Friday, Toyota said its group net profit for the quarter that ended on June 30 was a record 491.5 billion yen, or $4.13 billion. Analysts said the strong results showed Toyota was on track for its eighth straight year of record annual earnings. During much of that that streak, the Big Three have struggled with whopping losses and falling market share.  Toyota said sales also rose from the previous year, by 15.7 percent to 6.52 trillion yen, or $54.7 billion. That was more than G.M.’s best-ever quarterly sales of $54.5 billion, posted in the same quarter of last year.  Analysts praised Toyota’s ability to keep increasing profits even while it has been investing heavily in new environmentally friendly engine technologies like hybrids and fuel cells, which run on hydrogen. The company has also ridden out recent jumps in the price of steel, rubber and other materials by squeezing costs from its already famously lean production, analysts said.  Toyota said the weak yen boosted profits in the quarter by 100 billion yen, or $840 million. It kept unchanged its forecast for the full fiscal year, which ends March 2008, at 1.65 trillion yen, or $13.85 billion.  Toyota said global vehicles sales rose 3.4 percent to 2.16 million units in the quarter. The biggest gains came in Asia outside Japan, where sales rose 15 percent to 222,000 vehicles, Toyota said. In North America, sales were up 2 percent to 762,000. European sales rose 8.1 percent to 333,000 vehicles. In Japan, they fell 7.9 percent to 500,000 vehicles, Toyota said.
Toyota today reported a 32 percent rise in quarterly profits and strong sales in the North American market.