Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Toyota saw its fourth quarter profits surge by five times the amount it had last year as the nation recovers from the earthquake and tsunami disasters of 2011 and consumer demand for new vehicles increases in the US.

The automaker recorded net profits of $1.5 billion for the three months ending in March, compared to $319 million for the same period a year ago.

However, full year profits still dropped by 30 percent because the natural disasters and strong yen earlier in the year hurt earnings.

Toyota is Japan’s largest automaker by volume.

 

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The global auto market continues to recover with carmaker giants Volkswagen, Chrysler and Fiat all reporting higher profits during the first quarter of the year. VW and Chrysler also reported higher sales, while Fiat said its sales in Europe were no better than last year.

Volkswagen AG (VOW) led the pack on profits. It announced its net profit had nearly doubled to $4.2 billion compared to the same period last year.

Chrysler Group LLC, which is now controlled by Italy’s Fiat, reported its net profits were the best in 13 years at $473 million.

Italian carmaker Fiat SpA (F) credited those strong profits from the Chrysler division with helping to boost the net profits for the entire Fiat group 10-fold to $501 million, compared to a year earlier. Fiat owns a 58.5 percent stake in Chrysler.

VW credited sales in Russia for helping to boost its bottom line. Sales there increased by 77 percent to 66,000 vehicles.

Chrysler reported a 39 percent increase in first quarter sales and credited its growing market share in the U.S. for contributing to that growth. The automaker saw its U.S. market share rise to 11.5 percent from 9.4 percent for the same period last year.

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Berlin, Germany (AHN) – German automaker Audi bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati known for its luxury two-wheelers ridden by famous figures, including Brad Pitt.

Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s Audi will buy Italian motorcycle maker Ducati Motor Holding SpAg for $1.1 billion, which includes $203 million in debt.

Bologna, Italy-based Ducati manufactures about 40,000 bikes per year.

The luxury motorcycles carry a price tag of around $28,000, depending on model.

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Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – German luxury automaker BMW AG set sales records for the first three months of the year, reaching the landmark of selling more cars in China than in the United States for the first time.

Sales rose by 11.2 percent for the first quarter, compared to the same period last year. BMW sold 425,528 vehicles. The company said it sold 80,014 cars in China, up by 37 percent from a year ago.

In addition, BMW said that domestic sales were up by 12 percent in March.

Also in March, BMW reported car sales rose by 41 percent in China, while sales only rose by 13 percent in the U.S.

BMW says it expects strong sales for the remainder of the year. It will release its first quarter revenue and net profit reports on May 3.

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Birmingham, United Kingdom (AHN) – Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover announced Thursday that it would build its new Jaguar F-Type sports car in Britain.

The vehicle, a two-seat convertible, is the successor to the classic Jaguar E-Type, which ended production in 1975.

JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, plans to build the new car at its Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham. The planned sales launch is mid-2013.

The automaker says it will base the F-type on the company’s C-X16 concept, which it unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last year.

JLR will reveal the design later this year and says it will be a successor to its E-type in the value the brand represents, rather than the way it looks. Company officials said that the F-type will be a sports car for its era, just as the D-type, D-type and E-type Jaguars were. The vehicle will have a gasoline engine.

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Chicago, IL, United States (AHN) – Some 700,000 Toyota sedans and pickups in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are being recalled by the Japanese automaker to replace a faulty brake light switch and fix an airbag issue.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. said the recall covers 495,470 Tacoma pickup trucks made between 2005 and 2009, 70,500 Camry and 116,000 2009-2011 Venza vehicles. The numbers include 16,000 trucks in Canada and 13,000 in Mexico.

For the Tacoma, friction between the spiral cable and the retainer in the steering wheel spiral cable assembly may occur and could damage the electrical connection for the driver’s airbag module preventing it from deploying during a crash.

A flaw in the brake light switch could prevent the Camry and Venza from starting or shifting out of park, so this part will be replaced. Toyota is already obtaining replacement parts.

There were no reports of accidents related to the faulty brake light switch and airbag issue. However, the carmaker received 162 complaints on the Tacoma problem since 2005.

In February 2010, Toyota also recalled 8,000 units of 2010 Tacomas and 7,314 2010 Camrys for safety inspection. The defect in the 4WD trucks was a cracked front drive shaft that may eventually lead to the separation of the drive shaft at the joint portion while the 4-cylinder models of Camry’s left rear brake tube could puncture leading to reduced braking ability.

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Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – Volkswagen AG saw its profits more than double to $21.2 billion last year compared to $9.7 billion the year before, the company reported Friday.

In addition, the automaker’s operating profit soared by 58 percent to $15.1 billion, while its revenue rose by 26 percent to $213.7 billion.

The carmaker delivered more than 8.2 million vehicles, an increase of nearly 15 percent from the 2010.

Volkswagen says it plans to become the world’s largest carmaker, in terms of both sales and profits, by 2018.

To get there, company officials say they plan to spend $83 billion on building new plants and on conducting research and development to develop new models over the next five years. In addition, it plans to hire 50,000 more workers over the next six years.

Moreover, the company has developed a new platform to serve as the base for its small and large cars to streamline the process.

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Detriot, MI, United States (AHN) – Chrysler reported a $225 million profit on Wednesday. The company capped its first profitable year since its government bailout and bankruptcy in 2009.

The fourth quarter results were fueled by $15.1 billion in revenue, a 41 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.

For the full year, the struggling automaker on the way to a dramatic turnaround, reported net income of $183 million, compared with a $652 million loss in 2010. Annual revenue for 2011 rose 31 percent to $55 billion.

Giving gas to the turnaround was surging sales of its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles. Worldwide sales of its cars and trucks increased 22 percent to 1.85 million vehicles in 2011.

Even better and more encouraging was that Chrysler guided higher for 2012, a move that suggests its turnaround has wheels.

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Wolfsburg, Germany (AHN) – Volkswagen AG announced it had record sales of 5.1 million cars and sport-utility vehicles worldwide in 2011.

Sales were up worldwide by 13.1 percent in 2011 from 2010, company officials said.

Volkswagen is Europe’s largest carmaker.

Although much of its growth came from gains in China, India, Russia and the United States, its two largest markets were Europe and China. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker sold 1.72 million vehicles in each of those markets.

However, company officials said they expected challenges in the market environment for 2012.

VW officials credited new versions of some models, such as the Passat, Jetta and Beetle for helping to boost sales in “difficult market conditions.”

The only region that didn’t record strong growth was South America, where sales increased by only 2.2 percent.

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Torrence, CA, United States (AHN) – Japanese automaker Honda has expanded its previously announced recall of vehicles with dangerous air bags to include almost 900,000 vehicles.

The recall affects only vehicles sold in the United States and includes model years 2001 to 2003 of the affected cars.

The recalled vehicles now include certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2001 to 2003 Odyssey, 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL models, Honda officials said in a statement.

Honda first said the driver’s airbag inflator needed to be replaced because it had a risk of deploying with too much pressure and could rupture, which might result in injuries or death.

The company will begin sending out official notices to owners. However, owners can find more information online and also take an affected vehicle to their dealer for inspection and repairs.

“When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers,” Honda officials said in a statement posted on the company website. “To this end, in addition to contacting customers by mail, in late December, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles require repair by going on-line or calling. Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 and select option 4; Acura owners can go to www.recalls.acura.com or call (800) 382-2238 and select option 4.”

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