Honda's profit more than triples on sales growth, tax cut

Tokyo - Honda's profit for the fiscal third quarter has more than tripled what the Japanese automaker earned last year as its sales grew and profits got a perk from a US tax cut.

Tokyo-based Honda makes the Accord sedan, Odyssey minivan and Asimo robot. It reported Friday that October-December profit totaled 570.2-billion yen ($5.2-billion), up from 168.8-billion yen the previous year.

Quarterly sales grew 13% to 3.96 trillion yen ($36-billion).

Honda lifted its annual forecast through March to 1 trillion yen ($9-billion), up from 616.5-billion yen the previous fiscal year on continued sales growth and a favorable exchange rate.

Honda previously projected fiscal year profit of 585-billion yen ($5.3-billion).