Toyota announced its first quarter results on Wednesday, and the automaker’s fiscal results highlight just how bad the U.S. auto market is. Toyota’s profits tumbled by 28 percent during the first four months of the year — compared to the same time period in 2007 — largely due to a sagging U.S. market and the continued erosion of the dollar’s value against the yen.
Toyota’s first quarter 2008 profits fell from $4.2 billion a year earlier to $3.05 billion. But despite the dip in profits, Toyota’s sales were actually up 3.8 percent, totaling $63.14 billion.
Last year the dollar was worth around 120 yen, but that amount has fallen to about 100 today. About a third of Toyota ’s sales come from the U.S.
And the future outlook for the Japanese automaker doesn’t look much better. Despite a strong reputations for making quality, fuel-efficient vehicles and $4 a gallon gasoline, Toyota expects its sales to fall for the first time since 2000 when its sales slipped by 0.3 percent, says the The Detroit News. Toyota also expects that its net profits will decrease by 27 percent.
That prediction juxtaposed with Toyota’s results from the previous fiscal year really indicates how far — and how quickly — the auto market has fallen. For the fiscal year that ended on March 31, Toyota saw a record profit of $16.54 billion with a worldwide sales increase of 9.8 percent to $252.8 billion, which was also a record.
