Honda Motor Co. saw strong car sales in the United States and Japan that helped the automaker report a 46 percent growth in quarterly profit, Reuters reported.
The U.S. and domestic auto sales helped offset a slowdown in Thailand for the Japanese carmaker. Stronger-than-expected demand for its remodeled Fit subcompact that went on sale in Japan in September also helped to boost sales.
Honda, the fifth-biggest carmaker in the U.S., sold 413,434 vehicles in the U.S. market in July-September, up 13.1 percent from a year ago, helped by strong sales of the Accord and the Civic.
Sales in Thailand slowed after an incentive program for first car buyers ended.
Even though Honda sold the largest number of passenger cars in Thailand in January-September, surpassing Toyota, its July-September sales fell 21.8 percent from a year ago to 45,480 vehicles as customers cancelled vehicle orders.
"We expect Thailand to continue growing steadily, but the growth rate will drop," Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura said.
The company aims to boost worldwide car sales by around 1.5 times to 6 million vehicles by end-March 2017, according to Reuters.
Honda posted a quarterly net profit of 120.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion), which compares with 82.2 billion yen a year ago. While strong, the quarterly profit was lower than the average estimate of 134.9 billion yen in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of six analysts.
The company's sales in Japan increased 2.6 percent from a year ago in July-September to around 179,740 vehicles, helped by a jump in September after the Fit went on sale.
The higher-than-expected demand for the Fit surprised auto parts suppliers, and the company has a backorder of more than 60,000 Fit vehicles, Iwamura told Reuters.
The redesigned Fit first went on sale in Japan; Honda will begin manufacturing the vehicle in Mexico next year and selling it in the U.S. around the same time.
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