n n n ‘. concat(e. i18n. t(“search. voice. recognition_retry”),’n
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan’s profits jumped more than 10-fold in the July-September period from a year earlier, boosted by a weak Japanese yen and global vehicle sales.
The Japanese automaker, allied with France’s Renault SA, reported a profit of 190. 7 billion yen ($1. 3 billion) in the latest quarter, up from 17. 4 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales rose 25% to 3. 15 trillion yen ($20. 9 billion), the company said on Thursday.
Nissan Motor Co. , which makes the Leaf electric car, Infiniti luxury models and gaming app vehicle Rogue, got a boost forged by the yen’s weakness, as did Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.
The weakness of the yen sometimes contributes to the functionality of Japanese exporters by expanding the price of their earnings when exchanged for the yen. The U. S. dollar is trading at around 150 yen lately, up from 130 and 140 yen last year.
The only regional market where Nissan’s sales have struggled is China, where demand for electric cars is strong. Japanese automakers have lagged behind in supplying battery electric cars, or BEVs.
Nissan, in the port city of Yokohama, raised its full-year profit forecast through March 2024 to 390 billion yen ($2. 6 billion), up from a previous forecast of 340 billion yen ($2. 3 billion). It earned nearly $222 billion yen in the last fiscal year.
CEO Makoto Uchida said the company is playing catch-up, specifically in China, and strong BEV offerings are expected in the second part of 2024.
“This puts us on the right track towards our goals and towards sustainable growth,” he said.
In the first half of the year, while sales of Nissan vehicles in China fell 34% year-on-year, they increased by approximately 11% in Japan, 40% in North America and 19% in Europe.
Nissan kept its sales guidance for March 2024 unchanged at 3. 7 million cars, up from 3. 3 million cars sold last year.
The Franco-Japanese Nissan-Renault alliance has had its ups and downs. Carlos Ghosn, sent by Renault to lead Nissan’s turnaround, was a star executive until his arrest in Japan in late 2018 on charges of financial misconduct.
The alliance, which also includes small Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motor Corp. , has been keen to expose the Ghosn scandal. Ghosn, who now lives in Lebanon after waiving bail in late 2019, says he is innocent. Lebanon does not have the right to extradition under the Treaty with Japan.
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama on X, Twitter https://twitter. com/yurikageya
Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press