Buoyed by strong overseas demand, cost-reduction efforts and a weak, yen Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday reported a 19.2 percent increase in operating profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2006, hitting a record 574.7 billion yen.
Toyota, expected to replace General Motors Corp. as the world's top automaker this year, posted a net profit of 426.7 billion yen for the October-December period, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, while sales rose 15.2 percent to 6.15 trillion yen -- both record highs.
"We believe (the earnings figures show that) our companywide efforts over the past years are steadily bearing fruit," Toyota Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki told reporters in Tokyo.