Helped by strong sales in North America, Honda Motor Co. posted its third consecutive year of record net sales and profit for the April-September period, company officials said Thursday.
On a consolidated basis, the company enjoyed midterm sales of 3.1 trillion yen, a 12.1 percent rise over the same period last year. Net profits were reported at 158.3 billion yen, a 25.1 percent increase from the corresponding period the previous year.
But Thursday's report also revealed the nation's No. 3 automaker's heavy dependency on the North American market, as domestic sales dwindled amid the ongoing economic slump.
While Honda's overseas sales rose 20.9 percent, domestic sales dropped 8.7 percent to 752.1 billion yen, compared with the same period last year. Of total overseas sales of 2.38 trillion yen, 1.6 trillion yen was made in the North American market.
Some observers have begun worrying that the U.S. economy will slow in the near term, but Koichi Amemiya, executive vice president in charge of business in the U.S., brushed aside such concerns at a press conference. "As far as our business is concerned, there are no signs of a slowdown so far, and supply shortages have been continuing (in the U.S.)," he said.