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Toyota profits up 23% on high US sales, despite mounting legal costs

Toyota earned $9.3 billion in net income in the financial year that ends next month. The number beats earlier forecasts and marks a five-year high for the automaker, with both operating income and revenue up by 9.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Toyota saw quarterly profit enjoy a year-on-year jump of 23.4 percent, with the manufacturer earning more than $1 billion between October and December 2012. The good news comes in spite of the fact that the Japanese automaker actually endured an operating loss in North America, due in part to legal fees.
Toyota is set to pay more than $1 billion to owners who claim their vehicles decreased in value as a result of the company's recent spate of recalls. Even so, all three of the automaker's brands enjoyed a 13.5 percent sales increase in the US in the last quarter, beating the industry average. Toyota faltered in Europe, however, where it earned $99 million in operating profit last year, compared to $111 million in 2011. You can take a closer look at the company's full press release below for more information.

Lexus CT 200h could be replaced by sub-compact hybrid CUV

The Lexus CT 200h is an interesting vehicle that never really caught on. It's a sporty Prius in sleeker hatchback clothing and was aimed at the Audi A3 when it hit the market in 2011. Since then, though, the CT has averaged a meager 16,000 sales per year. For that reason, the hybrid hatch won't be redesigned at the end of its life cycle. And according to Lexus' European brand boss, Alain Uyttenhoven, it could be replaced by a crossover. While you may lament yet another CUV hitting the market, Lexus needs a small car that sells in big numbers. Uyttenhoven told Autocar the brand aims to move 100,000 units per year in Europe to "give us visibility in the market." For 2016, European sales are on pace to hit just 70,000 units, with 10,000 of those coming from the CT 200h. He sees an opportunity for the right little Lexus based on the recent nature of the European luxury market. View 29 Photos According to Uyttenhoven, "a full 50 percent of the European luxury car market exists below the [$44,600] mark," and the only model Lexus has at that point is the CT. Put another way, the company has a remarkably slow seller as its sole representative for half of an entire continent's luxury market. Enter the crossover. Replacing the CT with a crossover makes a great deal of sense. The body style is getting more and more popular by the day, especially in the sub-compact and compact markets. Adding a smaller model – below the current NX crossover but larger than the LF-SA concept shown in Geneva – would allow Lexus to challenge the Mercedes-Benz GLA, the BMW X1, and the Audi Q3. We're betting the small crossover would use the Toyota C-HR as its basis and add a Lexus-correct heavily creased skin. Hybrid power is a given for the European market, where almost all Lexuses sold are gas-electric, but a conventional gas variant could join it in the US. That would give Lexus three hybrid CUVs in three popular sizes, alongside the NX and RX. With a forthcoming RX-based three-row on the horizon, the brand would have a full lineup of crossovers ready to take over the world. We'll miss the quirky CT when it goes, but it's hard to stop volume-driven progress. Related Video:

Luxury car brands scrambling to avoid a blue Christmas

DETROIT — When financial markets surge to new records, sales of luxury cars usually rise, too. Instead, October U.S. auto sales reports on Wednesday showed that a collapse in sales of luxury sedans is accelerating. Consumers have gradually shifted over to luxury sport utility vehicles from sedans in the past decade, but the trend — which has occurred in both the non-luxury and luxury sedan segments of the auto market — was particularly pronounced in October. Sales of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz S-Class, long a global benchmark for large, premium sedans, plunged 49 percent in October, and are down 24.8 percent for the year to date. General Motors' Cadillac brand said it sold just 779 of its CTS sedans in October. Demand for that car, designed to compete with German luxury sedans, is down nearly 33 percent for the year. "There's still a significant portion of the market that wants a car, but I'm sure there were people who preferred a horse to a car at one point." Cadillac's best-selling model this year is the XT5 compact SUV, which has more than doubled sales from a year ago. The shift within the luxury vehicle market away from sedans toward SUVs of all sizes is forcing some of the most prestigious brands to scramble to add SUV models to their lineups or boost SUV production to meet demand. "In the short term, there will be pressure to add (consumer) incentives, cut production or both," said Cox Automotive analyst Michelle Krebs. "And we just don't see an end in sight to this trend." The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been trading at all-time highs, usually a good sign for luxury sedans, but as major automakers reported new U.S. vehicle sales for October on Wednesday, sales for passenger cars continued their slide while luxury SUV and crossover sales rose again. According to Kelley Blue Book data, in 2007 luxury sedans made up 7.6 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales, while luxury SUVs made up 4.2 percent. Through September this year, luxury SUVs made up just over 7 percent of the market, compared with 4.9 percent for luxury sedans. In the short term, luxury brands could use holiday season sales promotions to clear slow-selling sedans off dealer lots, analysts said. Toyota's Lexus brand said on Wednesday it will launch its "December to Remember" year-end sales promotion for the 18th straight year.