Japanese automakers have had a tough time recovering from the disaster in Japan, and Toyota is no exception. The New York Times reports, “Toyota, whose operations have been severely disrupted since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, said Wednesday that its quarterly profit fell 77 percent but that it expects production to begin recovering up to two months sooner than previously forecast.”
“We finished the fiscal year to March 31, 2011 with improved operating income of 468.2 billion yen as a result of our efforts on marketing and cost reduction despite a negative impact of around 100 billion yen from the Great East Japan Earthquake,” says Toyota President, Akio Toyoda in a press release. That works out to a loss of roughly $12.3 million caused by the quake.
Toyota isn’t out of the woods yet. “Its results in the current quarter — the first period of its fiscal year, which started April 1 — are expected to sustain a much bigger hit because of the earthquake,” writes the New York Times. “Toyota is almost certain to lose its title as the world’s largest automaker this year, perhaps falling to third place behind General Motors and Volkswagen.”
Additionally, production volume is also still down. The Detroit News reports, “By the end of May, the crisis has cost the company production of 550,000 vehicles in Japan, and another 350,000 overseas. Production is now back at about 50 percent.” Along with fewer vehicles on dealer lots, the automaker also isn’t providing many incentives for May. If you’ve been shopping for a new Toyota, waiting until production is back to normal might get you a better deal.
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