Top > Business > 2006 > October > 2006-10-26

Toyota Sees Stellar Profits Through `07

While gas prices in the United States have forced many Americans to consider dropping their cars for bus passes, Japanese automaker Toyota has still managed to record a healthy profit. What`s more, the company believes it will post by March 2007 a profit of 17.8 billion dollars. Toyota`s growth has been buoyed by an increase worldwide in sales, and the famed Japanese automaker has been competing with European firms such as DaimlerChrysler to break into the burgeoning Chinese consumer market.

Toyota`s performance has been something of an embarrassment for U.S. automakers in direct competition with the company, as Toyota has managed to outperform them on their own turf, abroad, and back in the U.S. also have the revenues to construct auto factories. That being said, Toyota itself has been no stranger to economic troubles in the past, and the company`s modern dominance even in the United States might be short lived ? GM, one of the world`s biggest automakers which also fell on hard times, posted a $300 million profit for the third quarter.

That being said, Japan`s proximity to China gives it in edge over European firms trying to do business there. And given American automakers` financial troubles and high gas prices, any efforts by GM or Ford Motors to take part in the so-called "takeover" of the Chinese auto market might be superseded by their focus on rebuilding their profits at home before seeking them abroad.