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Toyota profits up 23% on high US sales, despite mounting legal costs

Toyota earned $9.3 billion in net income in the financial year that ends next month. The number beats earlier forecasts and marks a five-year high for the automaker, with both operating income and revenue up by 9.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Toyota saw quarterly profit enjoy a year-on-year jump of 23.4 percent, with the manufacturer earning more than $1 billion between October and December 2012. The good news comes in spite of the fact that the Japanese automaker actually endured an operating loss in North America, due in part to legal fees.
Toyota is set to pay more than $1 billion to owners who claim their vehicles decreased in value as a result of the company's recent spate of recalls. Even so, all three of the automaker's brands enjoyed a 13.5 percent sales increase in the US in the last quarter, beating the industry average. Toyota faltered in Europe, however, where it earned $99 million in operating profit last year, compared to $111 million in 2011. You can take a closer look at the company's full press release below for more information.

Toyota GT86, Scion FR-S sales disappointing worldwide?

Okay, folks - it appears we've got a problem. The Toyota GT86, Europe's counterpart to our own beloved Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S coupes, is apparently not selling too well. This, according to Toyota's European Vice President of Research and Development, Gerald Killman, is what's limiting plans for additional variants of the rear-drive coupe.
"A faster version of that car would be at the top of most people's wish lists, but like the cabriolet, it is hard to justify a business case to push either model into production based on the current sales," Killman told AutoExpress. "Personally, I think that engine could use a little bit more," he added.
More troubling is that slow sales aren't limited to the Euro-spec car, with Killman claiming that the GT86 have been missing sales targets in major markets around the globe. It may not be that the US is one of those major markets, though. Scion's Vice President, Doug Murtha, tells Autoblog that his brand is happy with the sales of its version of the GT86, the FR-S. 18,000 units were sold last year, which Murtha says is "generally in line with original expectations for the car."

Scion trying to build business case for FR-S convertible as Subaru bows out

Hope may remain for a convertible version of the Scion FR-S, according to a report from Ward's Auto. You'll recall that rumors were swirling about the feasibility of a rear-drive Toyobaru convertible as early as October, and that back in November, Subaru - which makes the FR-S, Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 - essentially nixed the idea of an open-topped variant.
"We make the car, so if we don't make it, it can't happen," brand chief Yasuyuki Yoshinaga told Automotive News, according to Ward's, at the Tokyo Motor Show. "Our engineering department told me that losing the entire roof requires a complete redesign of the structure. It would need a big change."
Despite Yoshinaga-san's arguments against a droptop variant, Toyota is apparently still considering the model. Speaking to media at the 2014 North American International Auto Show, Scion's US vice president, Doug Murtha, hinted that the rear-drive droptop was in the works.