Toyota's profit for the January-March quarter sank 28 percent from the previous year as a strengthening yen and lagging North American sales chipped away at the Japanese automaker's earnings, AP reported. Toyota, the maker of the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, forecast even tougher times ahead. For the current fiscal year through March 2009, it said Thursday that it expects sales to drop for the first time in nine years _ and net profit to plunge 27 percent. The pessimistic outlook for this year underlines how even Toyota _ with its small cars reputed for good gas mileage _ hasn't emerged unscathed from the risks of a global slowdown, a U.S. credit crunch, volatile currency fluctuations and soaring material and energy costs. «We are facing a severe business environment,» Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said. «Toyota considers this headwind as a valuable opportunity to turn it into a more flexible and stronger company.» The dollar, which now hovers just above 100 yen compared with nearly 120 yen last year, also eroded the company's income. For the quarter through March, Toyota's profit fell to 316.8 billion yen (US$3.05 billion; ¤1.98 billion) from 440.1 billion yen a year ago _ the first on-year decline in profit since the April-June quarter of 2005. Quarterly sales, meanwhile, rose 3.8 percent in the most recent quarter to 6.567 trillion yen (US$63.14 billion; ¤40.92 billion). Like other major automakers, Toyota has been gradually switching its focus to China and other emerging markets. Toyota, however, still makes about a third of its sales in the North American market. Toyota _ the world's second-biggest automaker after General Motors Corp. _ also warned it will need to spend more in technology research and carry out cost cuts to stay competitive. The recent shift to smaller cars is a crunch for the makers because those vehicles are cheaper and have smaller profit margins than trucks and other gas guzzlers. For the fiscal year just ended in March, Toyota racked up record profit of 1.72 trillion yen (US$16.54 billion; ¤10.72 billion) _ an increase of 4.5 percent over the previous year. The number was in line with the projection Toyota gave in February. But it projects this fiscal year's profit will tumble to 1.250 trillion yen (US$12.0 billion; ¤7.8 billion), while annual sales are seen falling 4.9 percent to 25 trillion yen (US$240.4 billion; ¤155.8 billion).
