Toyota Riding Hybrid Back to Profit

Toyota will be raising their output from 6.3 million to 6.67 million for the current business year through March 31 according to the Yomiuri newspaper (via Bloomberg). The increased output is due to the increased demand in hybrid vehicles.

Businessweek writer Ian Rowley thinks this might mean Toyota could be headed back into profitability one year ahead of schedule.  That is, if sales improve a little bit more or the yen weakens a little bit more.

And that may all be due to the highly popular hybrids in and out of Japan.  The LS 250h has 10,000 pre-orders (20X the expected number) and the Prius is still the top selling car in Japan with a back order months long.