Toyota posts 7.3% jump in net income

Toyota, hot on the heels of General Motors Corp. to become the world’s No. 1 automaker, reported a 7.3% jump in fiscal third-quarter profit Tuesday on booming sales in North America and Europe that offset sluggish demand in Japan.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported a record group profit of 426.8 billion yen, or $3.6 billion, in the three months ended Dec. 31, up from 397.6 billion yen in the same period the previous year.

Quarterly sales climbed a solid 15.2% to 6.15 trillion yen, or $51.2 billion, from a year earlier, as the remodeled RAV 4 sport utility vehicle and Camry mid-sized sedan sold briskly in North America and demand was strong for the Yaris compact in Europe, Toyota said.

“Toyota’s numbers are super, super strong,” said Koji Endo, auto analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston Securities in Tokyo. “To be honest, it’s hard to find anything bad at this point.”

Toyota did not comment on where it might build its next U.S. factory to keep up with strong demand.

U.S. newspapers have reported that Chattanooga, Tenn., and Marion, Ark., are among the finalists.

Profit and sales reached a record for any quarter, Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki said.

“We believe our companywide efforts have contributed to these results,” Suzuki said in a statement.

Toyota, with its reputation for reliable, fuel-efficient cars, has received a big boost lately from the rise in oil prices.

It also is a leader in producing hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline.

Toyota has long beaten struggling GM in profitability, but it still trails GM in annual global vehicle production.

Last month, Toyota said worldwide vehicle production in 2006 was 9.02 million units, marking the fifth straight year of growth.

GM said its group automakers produced 9.18 million vehicles worldwide in 2006.

Toyota, which also makes the Lexus luxury line, passed DaimlerChrysler as the No. 3 auto seller in the U.S. for the first time in 2006, according to data from automakers.

Ford Motor Co. remains No. 2 in the U.S.

Toyota kept its vehicle sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31 unchanged at 8.47 million vehicles.

During the October-to-December quarter, it sold 2.16 million vehicles worldwide, up 8.9% from a year earlier.

Vehicle production increased 9% to 2.09 million units in the quarter.

Toyota said a weak yen, which boosts the value of overseas earnings, added 30 billion yen to its third-quarter results, while cost-reduction efforts contributed an additional 20 billion yen.

It also held steady its forecasts for the full fiscal year through March, projecting earnings of 1.55 trillion yen on 23.2 trillion yen in sales.

Shares of Toyota rose $3.24 to $133.70.