By Kentaro Otsuka and Masato Takamura
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
Suzuki Motor Corp. has forecast a 7.1% increase in global automobile sales for the fiscal year ending March 2027, a jump that would see it overtake Honda Motor Co. and into 2nd place among Japan's automakers for the first time in its history.
Under the forecast, Suzuki would sell 3.55 million units, compared to Honda's own forecast of 3.39 million.
Suzuki posted record high sales revenue and net profit for the previous fiscal year, even as four of the seven major Japanese automakers saw their consolidated net profit decrease year on year and two other posted net losses due to U.S. tariffs.
In its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended March 2026, Suzuki reported sales revenue of 6.29 trillion yen, an 8% increase from the previous fiscal year. It also reported net profit of 439.2 billion yen, a 5.6% increase, pushing it into second place behind Toyota Motor Corp., which saw 3.85-trillion-yen net profit.
In the Indian market, where Suzuki holds the largest market share, the country's tax cuts provided a tailwind, allowing Suzuki to post record-high sales of 1.86 million units.
Suzuki was unaffected by the United States' tariffs, as the company had already withdrawn from four-wheel vehicle sales there, which was another factor contributing to its financial results.
For the fiscal year ending March 2027, Suzuki will have a new production line begin operations in India, and the company plans to further increase its sales volume in the South Asian country.
"Our output failed to keep up with demand, resulting in missed opportunities," said Koichi Suzuki, executive general manager of Indian operations.
The imposition in April last year of tariffs in the United States, caused a significant drop in the profits of the Japanese automakers, whose primary market is there.
For Subaru Corp., whose U.S. sales account for 70% of its total sales, the tariffs hit its operating profit, which shows core business earnings, wiping off 226.9 billion yen. Mazda Motor Corp., meanwhile, saw an added expense of 154.9 billion yen due to the tariffs, while Toyota's net profit fell by about 20% to 3.8 trillion yen.
The prevailing view for the fiscal year ending March 2027 is that the tariff burden will be lighter than the previous fiscal year, as the tariff on automobiles exported from Japan to the United States was reduced from 27.5% to 15% last September.
As a consequence, five automakers, excluding Toyota and Suzuki, have forecast increased profits or expect to go into the black. Honda, which posted its first net loss in the fiscal year ended March 2026 since going public, and Nissan Motor Co., which has posted net losses for two consecutive fiscal years, are also expected to go into the black.
However, the situation in the Middle East remains a cause for concern for all automakers. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. expects that any deterioration in the region would push down its operating profit by 30 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2027.
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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.
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May 18, 2026 01:25 ET (05:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 The Yomiuri Shimbun
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