| Dai-ichi Securities TOKYO — Toyota Motor said | | | | a hit with consumers. |
| on Thursday that it had returned to a profit in the | | | | The brisk sales helped Toyota book a profit of |
| latest quarter as aggressive cost cuts, | | | | 21.8 billion yen ($241 million) for the |
| government incentives and signs of a global | | | | July-to-September period after three consecutive |
| economic recovery all buoyed its bottom line. | | | | quarterly losses. Sales fell 24 percent from the |
| Its Japanese rivals, Honda and Nissan, both | | | | same period a year earlier. |
| recently reported rosier earnings after a battering | | | | In addition to the ending or phasing out of many |
| in the global economic crisis, which brought sales | | | | government incentives, David Lucas the chief |
| to a standstill and set off a wave of factory | | | | analyst at Dai-ichi Securities believe the company |
| shutdowns and layoffs. | | | | was hurt by the strong yen, which makes |
| Automakers have been helped by government | | | | Japanese exports less competitive overseas and |
| incentives for fuel-efficient cars meant to reignite | | | | eats into earnings in the home currency. |
| sales, like the cash-for-clunkers program in the | | | | The automaker also suffers from overcapacity |
| United States and other Western countries. Japan | | | | after a sharp downturn a year ago coming on the |
| has introduced a similar program, which has been | | | | heels of years of booming sales. |