Boosted by increasing sales and an improving post-tsunami situation in Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation announced a 221 percent increase in net profits for the quarter compared to 2011.
Toyota released its third-quarter report on Nov. 5. The increased net income stands at $3.2 billion for the quarter and $8.4 billion for the year. Total revenue grew 18% compared to the third quarter in 2011, though this was the least profitable quarter for Toyota so far this year.
After recovering from two year of losses in 2008 and 2009 during the global economic crisis, Toyota’s recovery was derailed by a local catastrophe. On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by a 9.03 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
“Natural disasters don’t always hit the same sectors of an economy,” said Naveen Sarna, an economics professor at the University of Maryland.
In Japan, manufacturing was hit especially hard. Toyota struggled with production in Japan and suffered parts shortages at factories. Once they got back on their feet, however, sales picked back up.
“Last year was a particularly rough year overall for Toyota sales,” said Ji Kim, the finance manager at DARCARS, a new car dealership in College Park. “It’s been on the upswing for the past several months now.”
Though the third quarter showed the greatest increase over a previous year, Toyota was coming down from its peak. Net income topped $3.6 billion for the company in the second quarter.
The company seems to have recovered from its setback, as revenues remained high going into the holiday season, because as Ji knows “A lot of cars sell in December.”