Despite weak auto sales in the domestic market, Suzuki Motor Co. announced Tuesday that it has managed to post a pretax profit of 14.9 billion yen in the first half of the 1997 business year, up 23.42 percent from a year earlier.
Its net sales in the April to September period grew 0.5 percent to 586.3 billion yen, but its operating profit dropped 3.5 percent to 14.9 billion yen because of increased costs for sales activities, the company said.
While the nation's economic prospects remain uncertain following the consumption tax hike in April, the company's exports of both motorbikes and cars, especially to Indonesia, Hungary, Europe and South America, were strong in the half-year period that ended Sept. 30, according to Suzuki President Osamu Suzuki.
"But exports to Indonesia will decline in the latter half of the current business year due to economic turmoil spreading in Asia," he said. "The key for the latter half of the year will be whether we will be able to cover our drop in domestic sales by increased exports."
In addition to exports, the company hopes to increase its domestic sales of cars with its remodeled multipurpose vehicle Escudo, which the company introduced last week.