Strong U.S. Sales Lift Honda

Fiscal first-quarter profit at Honda soared nearly 30% as its models’ reputation for fuel economy lifted results in the U.S., which accounts for half the Japanese automaker’s vehicle sales.

With U.S. gasoline prices hovering near $3 a gallon, Americans snatched up Honda’s small cars, notably the Civic and the Fit, boosting its North American sales in the quarter to 456,000 vehicles, up nearly 9% from a year earlier.

Net income at Honda grew 29.6% to 143.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, Japan’s No. 3 automaker said Wednesday.

Revenue climbed to 2.6 trillion yen ($22.3 billion), up 14.8% from a year earlier, and the Tokyo-based automaker chalked up its sixth straight record for first-quarter earnings and sales.

Honda maintained its profit outlook at 550 billion yen for the full fiscal year ending in March. But the company revised its sales forecast upward to 10.7 trillion yen from its April forecast of 10.6 trillion yen.

The success of Honda contrasts with the troubles at U.S. automakers General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., which have been losing market share in North America to Asian competitors. Honda said it sold 896,000 vehicles worldwide in the April-to-June quarter, largely because of growth in North America and Asia. That represented an increase of 6.7% from the yearearlier period.

Although Honda’s domestic vehicle sales fell 6.6% to 156,000 vehicles, overseas sales surged 10% to 740,000 in the latest quarter. A weaker yen was a boon for earnings, and a decline in research costs also helped results, offsetting the soaring costs of raw materials, Honda said.