Toyota Motor Corporation Australia (TMCA) has announced an after-tax profit of $129 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2020 (FY19: after-tax profit of $206 million).
Comprising Toyota Australia and Lexus Australia operations, TMCA sold a total of 215,722 vehicles locally during FY20. While this was a reduction of 3.3 per cent, sales compared favourably with an overall industry decline of 9.1 per cent.
Strong order banks limited the financial consequences of COVID-19, which impacted late in the financial year under review.
TMCA President and CEO Matthew Callachor said this year's result reflected increased costs associated with tighter market conditions, a tax adjustment relating to prior years, and continued capital investments.
"Toyota greatly appreciates the loyalty of our customers, the dedication of our employees around Australia and the commitment of our dealer network, particularly during these challenging times," he said.
In 2019, Toyota was the best-selling brand for the 17th consecutive year, HiLux was the top-selling vehicle for the 4th year running and Corolla was Australia's most popular passenger car for the seventh year straight.
Lexus has now entered its 30th anniversary year in Australia after setting an annual sales record of 9,612 vehicles in 2019.
Other Toyota milestones throughout the financial year include:
• New-model launches of RAV4, Corolla sedan, C-HR facelift, HiAce, Granvia and GR Supra;
• Hybrid models exceeding 20 per cent of Toyota's sales by year's end;
• Helping grassroots clubs raise more than $650,000 in the Good for Cricket and Good for Footy raffles;
• Celebrating 20 years as National Tree Day partner, and the milestone of 25 million trees planted around Australia;
• Donating a total of $573,000 to assist bushfire affected communities;
• Marking the second anniversary of the Toyota Community Trust and the awarding to date of over $1.8 million in grants for STEM education projects; and
• Completing the Education Centre component of the $7.4 million hydrogen centre project with support from ARENA at Toyota's Centre of Excellence, due for completion late this year.
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