Toyota quarterly profit rises on growing sales, cost cuts

Toyota has raised its earnings forecast after reporting that its profit surged 28% in the last quarter on growing sales and cost cuts.

The top Japanese automaker said Tuesday that its July-September profit was $5.2-billion, up from 458.3-billion yen the year before.

Over 2-million vehicles sold in three months

Quarterly sales rose 2% to $64.7-billion.

The manufacturer of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Corolla subcompact forecast a $20-billion profit for the fiscal year through March.

That exceeds its earlier forecast for $19-billion, but down nearly 8% from nearly 2.5 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year.

Toyota sold 2.183 million vehicles in July-September, up from 2.175 million vehicles the same period the year before.