TOKYO -- The Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday its net profit jumped 11.4 percent from a year earlier, in part because of strong marketing and cost cutting.
Japan's largest car maker -- the world's second largest -- said for the six months ended Sept. 30, it recorded a record net profit of $5.5 billion, up from $4.9 billion a year ago, reported the Kyodo news agency.
The Shinko Research Institute said Toyota's net proit is an all-time, first-half high for any Japanese company, Kyodo said.
"Our ongoing efforts to introduce products that meet individual customer needs, as well as the optimization of our production organization worldwide, allowed us to grow and improve efficiency in the first half," said Toyota Executive Vice President Ryuji Araki.
For the sixth straight year, Toyota's global sales increased. The car company said its volume reached an all-time high of 3.57 million vehicles, up 12.5 percent from a year ago. Sales in Japan were up 2.3 percent to 1.11 million units, pushing Toyota's domestic market share up by 2.1 percentage points to 44.6 percent.
North American sales strengthened by 12 percent to 1.13 million vehicles mainly due to brisk demand for its Prius hybrid cars and Scion passenger cars for younger drivers.
