Toyota’s half-year net profit rises 26.1% as retail vehicle sales fall
The Japanese carmaker raised its annual profit forecasts, cut its revenue outlook and outlined plans for a new robotics division in January 2027.
- Toyota's net profit for the first half of the fiscal year increased by 26.1%, despite a reported 4.6% decline in global retail vehicle sales.
- The drop in retail sales was partly due to an accounting change that excluded Hino Motors; on a comparable basis, consolidated vehicle sales actually increased.
- Profit growth was driven by a 9.5% rise in revenue, cost-cutting measures, a weaker yen, and higher vehicle prices, which offset increased raw material costs.
- Strong sales of hybrids in Japan and a return to profitability for North American operations also contributed to the higher earnings.
Toyota Motor Corporation earned 2,236.4 billion yen in consolidated net profit in the six months to September, even as its worldwide retail vehicle sales fell.
The Japanese carmaker’s results, released on Thursday, 5 November 2026, showed net profit was up 26.1% year on year, the first increase for the April-to-September period in three years.
Toyota excluded Hino Motors, Ltd. from its consolidated results for the period, a change that accounted for part of the 4.6% decline in global retail sales to 5,381,000 vehicles.
The retail total includes sales by Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd.
Consolidated vehicle sales rose on a comparable basis once Hino was also removed from the previous year’s figures.
Revenue reached 26,962.4 billion yen, up 9.5% and marking its sixth consecutive increase for the April-to-September period.
An intensive drive to cut costs, along with other measures, offset a 465 billion yen hit from higher raw material prices, which were partly driven by worsening conditions in the Middle East.
Group operating profit rose 9.2% to 2,191.1 billion yen.
Changes to vehicle prices and a smaller hit from US tariffs helped Toyota’s North American operations return to profit.
In Japan, hybrids led strong sales of new vehicles.
A weaker yen and higher revenue from repairs and maintenance also bolstered earnings.
“We were able to limit the impact of changes in the external environment, including developments in the Middle East, through swift responses,” Takanori Azuma, chief officer of Toyota’s Accounting Group, told an online press briefing.
Toyota lowered its revenue forecast from 54 trillion yen to 53.5 trillion yen for the financial year ending in March 2027.
It raised its operating profit forecast from 3.4 trillion yen to 3.9 trillion yen and its consolidated net profit forecast from 3.25 trillion yen to 3.57 trillion yen.
Toyota intends to “accelerate growth again” in China, executive vice-president Yoichi Miyazaki told the briefing.
The company has struggled in the market and plans to buy more from local suppliers to strengthen its competitiveness.
Miyazaki said Toyota was looking to electric vehicles for growth beyond the roughly 10 million vehicles it aims to sell each year, with hybrids underpinning that sales base.
Toyota plans to put robots to work in its own plants before commercialising the technology.
As part of its restructuring, the company will bring its robotics staff and functions together in a new division in January 2027, with the aim of making robotics, including factory automation, a core business.
Miyazaki linked the robotics plan to Toyota’s approach to eliminating waste in manufacturing.
“The initiative represents the digitalization and automation of the Toyota Production System,” he told the briefing.
