Japanese automakers may have run out of the fuel that has driven profits higher for the past four years: the weaker yen.
Toyota Motor Corp. and Japan's six other automakers may combine to earn ¥4.55 trillion in the fiscal year through March 2017, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That is a 5.5 percent increase from what analysts are projecting for the period ending next month and would be the slowest pace of growth in five years.
And these estimates may still be too optimistic. Changes in foreign exchange rates reduced operating income at Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. in the three months through December and provided the smallest boost to Toyota's quarterly profit in more than three years. With the yen soaring last week to the strongest level since October 2014, earnings may fall next fiscal year, according to analysts at TIW Inc. and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.