Dive Brief:
- Toyota Motor Corp.’s year-over-year sales slipped by nearly 21% in its home country of Japan as the automaker works through its vehicle safety certification scandal, as well as recalls, the company announced in its first quarter earnings report.
- Despite a significant decrease in production and sales volume in Japan, Toyota reported sales gains in the North America (+3.4%), Europe (+1.7%) and Asia (+4.6%) during this period, which offset its losses.
- The automaker’s Q1 vehicle sales in Japan fell 110,000 units to approximately 421,000 vehicles. This was largely due to production suspension from the ongoing model certification safety investigation by the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Dive Insight:
Production of the Toyota Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross in Japan has been suspended since June 3 as the government investigates the validity of Toyota’s vehicle safety certifications. However, the three vehicles are scheduled to resume production in September once the MLIT confirms that they are in compliance with the required standards.
Toyota reported consolidated sales of 2,252,000 vehicles in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, a 3.2% decline from a year ago. On a consolidated basis, net revenues for the quarter totaled 11.8 trillion yen ($75.9 billion), an increase of 12.2% despite a nearly 21% sales decline in Japan.
Toyota’s year-over-year profit rose to 1.3 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) from 1.1 trillion yen ($7.5 billion) and its margins improved to 11.1% from 10.6% a year ago. Toyota cited favorable foreign exchange rates and other cost reduction efforts for the increase.
Despite the challenges in its home country, the automaker’s global electrified vehicle sales have thrived despite waning EV demand across the industry.
Electrified models, which include hybrids, EVs and fuel cell vehicles, were up nearly 24% globally in the first quarter reaching 1,075,000 units. These electrified models accounted for 43% of Toyota’s vehicle sales volume of 2,491,000 units in the first quarter of FY 2025. Global sales of fully-electric Toyota models also increased from 29,000 to 43,000 units YoY.
In the U.S., sales of electrified vehicles were up 63% during the quarter, representing about 40% of Toyota’s total U.S. sales in the period.
Toyota rival Hyundai Motor Co. also experienced strong growth in hybrid vehicle sales. Last week, the automaker reported that its U.S. hybrid sales jumped 26.4% from a year ago. It was the second consecutive month of double-digit hybrid vehicle sales gains.
Toyota says its full-year forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, remains unchanged. The company estimates that consolidated vehicle sales will reach 9.5 million units.
