10/25/07

Honda Reports Strong 3rd Quarter

Japan's No. 2 car maker, Honda Motor Co., on Thursday reported a year-over-year quarterly profit gain of 63 percent.

The July-September 2007 quarter saw weaker yen exchange rates, internal cost reduction, and export sales growth offset a soft Japan home market for Hondas.

Global Honda sales gained 6 percent to 937,000 vehicles during the latest quarter.

Honda cut its global sales forecast for the 2007/08 business year to 3.935 million cars, from its previous target of 3.96 million.

Honda is the first Japanese car maker to report quarterly earnings.

Nissan Motor Co. sales and earnings, due Friday 10/26/07, are expected to be weaker.

Toyota’s quarterly report comes Nov. 7.

As I have said repeatedly, Honda's refusal to follow the SUV fad makes it the world's smartest automaker. The company's underlying business, reliable fuel efficient cars, remains strong through good times and bad.