Toyota Motor is expected to get a big lift from demand for hybrids when it reports annual earnings on Wednesday, illustrating how the world's top-selling automaker is poised to benefit as hype around battery electric vehicles cools.
Globally, it has felt the pinch of growing competition from Chinese rivals rapidly expanding production of low-priced vehicles. Meanwhile, a safety test scandal at its Daihatsu compact car unit has hurt sales in Japan and the Toyota group's reputation for quality and safety. For the fourth quarter, it is expected to deliver an operating profit of 747 billion yen, according to the average of nine analysts polled by LSEG.
Toyota pioneered hybrids more than a quarter of a century ago with the Prius. They made up more than a third of the 10.3 million cars it sold in the financial year just ended, including the Lexus luxury brand.