Toyota

On the shores of the Sea of Marmara, a grey and turquoise factory built at breakneck speed is churning out electric cars by the hundreds.

Türkiye is hoping its first major electric carmaker will put the country in the driving seat of the automotive industry.

Data from a Japanese auto industry association show that China overtook Japan as the world's largest vehicle exporter last year.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association reported Japan exported 4.42 million vehicles in 2023, up 16 percent from a year earlier, while domestic auto sales totaled nearly 4.78 million vehicles.

Toyota's chairman said Tuesday he was "ashamed" of recent scandals involving subsidiaries of the Japanese auto giant, as the firm announced record vehicle sales of 11.2 million across its brands last year.

Japan's Toyota said yesterday that net profit in its first quarter surged 78 percent as global production rebounded after severe supply disruptions a year ago.

The world's biggest automaker by sales said net profit in the three months to June was 1.31 trillion yen ($9.1 billion) on sales of 10.55 trillion yen, up 24.2 percent from a year ago.

Talks are ongoing with carmakers from Europe and Asia, including China, to lure more investments into Türkiye's automotive sector, Industry and Technology Minister Fatih Kacır has said.

"We are hoping that at least one of them will announce an investment decision by the end of the year," he said.

Toyota plans to make an all solid-state battery as part of its ambitious plans for battery electric vehicles, the company said yesterday, amid mounting criticism Japan's top automaker needs to do more to fight climate change.

Toyota named Koji Sato president and CEO on Jan. 26, in a surprise reshuffle that sees third-generation chief executive Akio Toyoda step aside to become board chairman of the world's top-selling automaker.

The Japanese automaker said Sato, 53, would also become operating officer when the changes to its executive structure take effect on April 1.

Toyota's profit fell nearly 18 percent in the April-June quarter from the year before, as a semiconductor shortage that has slammed the auto industry dented production at Japan's top automaker.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported yesterday a quarterly profit of 736.8 billion yen ($5.5 billion), down from 897.8 billion yen the previous year.

If the sales maintain their current pace in the coming months, electric vehicle sales may reach around 4,500 units, according to a business group.

In the first six months of 2022, the number of registered electric vehicles increased by 170 percent from a year ago to 2,413, according to a recent report by the Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD).

Tesla's deliveries of electric vehicles fell in the second quarter compared to the previous one due mainly to a weeks-long closure of its factory in China, the company has said.    

Elon Musk's enterprise delivered 254,695 vehicles from April to June, it said in a statement.