Toyota’s quality general manager, Hiroyuki Yokoyama, said the company first saw complaints via its dealers from the autumn of last year and the number of these cases increased in December, leading to the design modification. He denied the company had attempted to cover up the problem.
The financial results from the world’s No. 1 auto maker by production mark a much-needed bright spot as it grapples with concerns about quality in the wake of its global vehicle recall.
Toyota posted a net profit of 153.22 billion yen ($1.68 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, improving from a net loss of 164.64 billion yen in the same quarter a year earlier. It attributed the turnaround to cost-cutting and a recovery of sales in Asia and North America, offsetting the effects of a strong yen over the quarter.