Japan's Honda forecasts drop in profits despite strong US auto sales

New Indian Express

a day ago

TOKYO: Honda's profit in the last quarter was half of what it was a year earlier, the company said Wednesday, as automakers were hit by 25% tariffs on vehicle exports to the United States.
The Japanese automaker reported Wednesday that its April-June profit totaled 196.7 billion yen ($1.3 billion), about half of what it earned during the same period the previous year at 394.7 billion yen. Quarterly sales edged 1.2% lower to 5.3 trillion yen ($36 billion).
The Tokyo-based maker of the Accord sedan and Asimo robot revised upward its profit forecast for the full fiscal year through March 2026 to 420 billion yen ($2.9 billion), better than its earlier estimate of 250 billion yen. The improved projection still marks a 50% drop from the previous year's results.
Honda stuck to its forecast to sell 3.62 million vehicles worldwide in this fiscal year.
It said its motorcycle business in Brazil and Vietnam was solid, while North American car sales also remained strong despite headwinds from the tariffs.
The negative impact of the tariffs was estimated at about 450 billion yen ($3 billion), based on 'a detailed review,' according to Honda.
The company's auto sales declined year-on-year in Japan, the rest of Asia and Europe. Honda's quarterly global auto sales totaled 839,000 units, down from 869,000 the same period last year.