Toyota expected to report sharp recovery in Q1: Report

TOKYO: Japanese auto giant Toyota is expected to report over $1 billion in operating profit for the April-June period, recovering from the previous year's massive loss, a business paper said on Sunday.

In the quarter, the Toyota group -- including Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor -- appears to have sold up to 1.9 million units, about 30 per cent more than a year earlier, the Nikkei business daily said without citing sources.

Its operating profit is expected to reach about 100 billion yen ($1.14 billion), recovering sharply from the previous year's loss of 194.8 billion yen, thanks to higher sales in Asia and the Middle East, it said.

In Japan, Toyota enjoyed robust sales of the Prius while sales in North America were also recovering thanks to incentives, although its operations were still feeling the effect of recalls, it said.

In addition to the expanded sales mainly in emerging nations and resource-rich countries, the company offset the effect of the strong yen through streamlining, it said.

But Toyota was unlikely to upgrade its full-year forecasts, in part because of uncertainty over Western economies, the paper said.

Toyota has pulled about 10 million vehicles worldwide since late last year over massive safety recalls.

Despite the impact of the recalls, the automaker expects operating profit to rise nearly 90 per cent to 280 billion yen in the year to March 2011.