Toyota reports decline in profit for 3rd quarter

2/8/2012

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. reported Tuesday that profit for its October-December third quarter slid 13.5 percent on production setbacks caused by last year’s tsunami disaster and the flooding in Thailand. But Japan’s top automaker raised its annual earnings forecast, saying a recovery is on track.

Toyota reported that it made $1.05 billion in the quarter, down from $1.21 billion a year earlier.

It raised its annual profit forecast to $2.6 billion from $2.3 billion, which is barely half of what it made in the previous fiscal year.

Toyota also said its major plant in the United States, the one in Mississippi that makes the Corolla, added a second shift, bringing annual production capacity to 150,000 vehicles, as planned.