Nissan Motor Co. reported Friday that it posted a record group operating profit of 411.5 billion yen for the first half of 2005, up 2 percent from the same period the previous year.
Sales in the first half jumped 12.1 percent to 4.491 trillion yen. The automaker attributed the strong performance to robust sales in all regions, lower purchasing costs, and the yen's weakness against the Mexican peso and the Australian and Canadian dollars.
Nissan President Carlos Ghosn said at a news conference in Tokyo that the automotive industry faces many challenges in the current fiscal year, including rising material costs, higher interest rates, record levels of sales incentives -- the equivalent of discounts -- and rising oil prices.