Daihatsu Motor Co. on Wednesday reported record-high sales of 396.92 billion yen and record-high pretax profits of 9.03 billion yen for the first half of the 1997 business year.
Daihatsu sales rose 12.1 percent in the April-September period from the same period last year, while its pretax profits posted a sharp increase of 74.3 percent. The automaker cited increased exports to the United States and Europe.
Operating profits also expanded 46.3 percent to 8.23 billion yen, the Osaka-based automaker said. Reflecting the nation's economic slowdown, Daihatsu's domestic vehicle sales dropped 8.8 percent to 206,000 units from a year earlier, while its exports rose 68.7 percent to 56,000 units.