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Toyota profits up 23% on high US sales, despite mounting legal costs

Toyota earned $9.3 billion in net income in the financial year that ends next month. The number beats earlier forecasts and marks a five-year high for the automaker, with both operating income and revenue up by 9.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Toyota saw quarterly profit enjoy a year-on-year jump of 23.4 percent, with the manufacturer earning more than $1 billion between October and December 2012. The good news comes in spite of the fact that the Japanese automaker actually endured an operating loss in North America, due in part to legal fees.
Toyota is set to pay more than $1 billion to owners who claim their vehicles decreased in value as a result of the company's recent spate of recalls. Even so, all three of the automaker's brands enjoyed a 13.5 percent sales increase in the US in the last quarter, beating the industry average. Toyota faltered in Europe, however, where it earned $99 million in operating profit last year, compared to $111 million in 2011. You can take a closer look at the company's full press release below for more information.

Toyota JPN Taxi Concept is a Japanese riff on an English classic

As far as beasts of burden go, New York City's new - and much maligned - Nissan NV200 "Taxi of Tomorrow" isn't a bad one. It's space efficient, reasonably economical, and its simple construction should mean it's pretty robust over the long haul, too. But it lacks panache and a sense of occasion - let alone a sense of humor - three things this this Toyota JPN Taxi Concept we found at the Tokyo Motor Show has in spades.
Unfortunately, that's about all the information we have on this cheeky London-taxi-inspired showcar. Toyota hasn't provided much in the way of details, other than to proclaim that the five-seat JPN was "created with Japanese hospitality in mind" and it "aims to enliven city streets." Japan's livery landscape has long been occupied by traditional three-box sedans - models like the Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric. The JPN Taxi at just over 171 inches would appear to offer both a tighter footprint and added whimsy, both of which are in the automaker's favor; we hear it hopes this concept will one day become the country's own version of America's yellow Crown Vic cab.
Toyota isn't providing powertrain specifications, but we like the airy feeling of the interior (Japanese cabs typically don't have cumbersome partitions between cabbie and passengers), the minimalist driver area with three screens, and the widescreen overhead video system for passengers that bookends the panoramic moonroof. Check it out in our gallery of live shots and let us know what you think in Comments.

Europe on track to buy more PHEVs than hybrids by 2019

LMC Automotive, formerly the forecasting division of J.D. Power & Associates, predicts that plug-in hybrids will sell better than conventional hybrids by 2019. By 2021, it envisions PHEV sales at 600,000 units yearly compared to 325,000 standard hybrid sales, and by 2024 PHEV sales are expected to account for 1.2 million sales every year. Part of LMC's prediction is based on a few factors, such as that it believes "electric-only operation will come to be seen as a true luxury characteristic and will be prized sufficiently to command significant premiums." Certain PHEVs are helped in countries like the UK and The Netherlands by generous incentives or other perks, like avoiding inner London's congestion charge, that allow them to address their price differences compared to standard offerings. And the number of PHEVs on the market will soon eclipse regular hybrids, coming from makers across the spectrum. Volvo has twice recently, and only belatedly, learned of the popularity of PHEVs: in 2013 it had to triple production of the V60 PHEV, and just this month it said demand for its XC90 PHEV is four times expectations. The Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid is outselling the traditional hybrid Panamera by more than seven-to-one. And then there's Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Europe's best-selling PHEV with 19,855 units, a volume more than three times larger than the second-best seller. Although LMC sees hybrid growth slowing, they're still doing well. Toyota and Lexus build the top-five selling traditional hybrids in Europe, combining for 72 percent of European sales, with the new Auris and Yaris hybrids alone selling 123,506 units in 2014. For LMC's forecast to come true, Europe will need a spectacular change in buying habits, since the top ten conventional hybrids tallied 175,847 sales in 2014, and the top ten PHEVs rang up 36,138 sales. Featured Gallery 2015 Volvo XC90 T8 View 14 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Green Mitsubishi Toyota Volvo Hybrid ev sales hybrid sales toyota auris hybrid toyota yaris hybrid