Toyota profits fall
Toyota’s profits have fallen for the first time in five years – down by 21% to £12.4bn.
The manufacturer sold 10.25 million cars in the year to March 2017, more than in the previous 12 months’ figure of 10.19 million but it said that higher costs and currency fluctuations hit results.
Toyota president, Akio Toyoda said, ‘I feel a strong sense of crisis about whether or not we are actually executing car-making from the perspective of the customer in all Toyota workplaces, from development, production, procurement and sales, all the way to administrative divisions.
He also warned that profits will fall again in the current fiscal year ending 31 March 2018.
Toyota said the company has already made big advances in developing better vehicles with its new modularised platform – Toyota New Global Architecture or TNGA but admitted, ‘When it comes to making ever-better cars in a smart way, it is becoming apparent that there is still room for improvement.’
He added that the company will focus on streamlining operations.
