Toyota cuts output target amid chip crunch as profit tumbles 25%

Toyota Motor Corp (US.TM) on Tuesday posted a worse-than-expected 25% drop in quarterly profit and cut its annual output target, as the Japanese firm battles surging material costs and a persistent semiconductor shortage. The world's biggest automaker by sales also warned that it remained difficult to predict the future after posting its fourth consecutive quarterly profit decline, underlining the strength of business headwinds it faces. Operating profit for the three months ended September fell to 562.7 billion yen ($3.79 billion), well short of an average estimate of 772.2 billion yen in a poll of 12 analysts by Refinitiv.

A year earlier, Toyota sales reported a 749.9 billion yen profit. Toyota said it now expects to produce 9.2 million vehicles this fiscal year, down from the previously forecast 9.7 million but still ahead of last financial year's production of 8.6 million units.