TOYOTA CITY, Japan -

Similar to another Japanese automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., shared Tuesday that it suffered significant financial setbacks during the first quarter of the 2011 fiscal year.

But Toyota leadership is so confident in its future that it raised sales and revenue expectations.

By how much did the OEM boost its forecast? Toyota believes it will move 7.6 million units by the end of its current fiscal year that wraps up on March 31. That prediction is 360,000 higher than the 7.2-million unit sales forecast Toyota issued back in June.

In terms of its consolidated financial forecasts, Toyota expects consolidated net revenues of 19,000.0 billion yen, operating income of 450.0 billion yen, income before income taxes of 500.0 billion yen and net income of 390.0 billion yen.

When commenting on the forecast, Toyota senior managing officer Takahiko Ijichi began with, “The yen has been further appreciating against major currencies lately.

“However, Toyota remains committed to pursuing an improvement of its earnings structure globally through cost-reduction activities in which it has strong track record, and to utilizing every opportunity to increase production and sales outlook,” Ijichi continued.

“In this way, Toyota will continue to make its utmost effort to achieve the strong base of earnings — a target under its Global Vision — as soon as possible,” he added.

The raised performance expectation certainly caught the attention of the investment community.

“The Japanese carmakers are recovering more quickly than earlier expected,” Tadashi Usui, an analyst at Moody’s K.K. in Tokyo told Bloomberg.

“The challenge post-recovery is how competitive they can be in this very difficult operating environment,” Usui added.

Toyota’s positive prediction also received some reinforcement when the automaker reported its U.S. sales on Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Sales USA reported July sales of 130,802 units. While the figure marked a decrease of 19.7 percent from the same period last year on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis, the amount marked a 17.9 percent climb from June.

“For the second straight month, Toyota posted a month-to-month sales gain as inventories continued to recover,” explained Jeff Bracken, vice president of Toyota Division sales.

“With the launch of four all-new models in the second half, including the 2012 Camry, and a production outlook that continues to improve, we’re optimistic our strong momentum will continue,” Bracken added.

Like Toyota, Honda Motor Co., thinks it has steadied itself enough to have a strong close to its current fiscal year. Auto Remarketing published these details and how Honda’s certified department could play a significant role in this story.

Toyota’s 1Q Financial Report

Decrease was the word that littered Toyota’s first-quarter performance report for the time period that ended June 30.

On a consolidated basis, the company said its first-quarter net revenues were 3,441.0 billion yen, a decrease of 29.4 percent compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Toyota revealed its operating income plummeted from 211.6 billion yen to a loss of 108.0 billion yen, while income before taxes actually settled as a loss of 80.5 billion yen.

Furthermore, the OEM acknowledged that net income decreased from 190.4 billion yen to 1.1 billion yen, and operating income decreased by 319.6 billion yen.

Toyota insisted that major factors contributing to the decrease include the negative effects of marketing activities of 280.0 billion yen and currency fluctuations of 50.0 billion yen.

The automaker moved 1.221 million vehicles worldwide during the first quarter, a drop of 599,000 units compared to the same period last fiscal year.

“In Japan and North America where the effects of the earthquake were particularly serious, vehicle sales declined substantially,” Ijichi emphasized.

“In the Asia region, despite the impact of the earthquake, we were able to maintain a similar level of vehicle sales as the previous year in countries led by Indonesia,” he added.

Toyota went into detail on performance level within various regions.

In Japan, the automaker calculated vehicle sales totaled 292,000 units, a decrease of 208,000 from the same time last fiscal year. The company’s operating loss from Japanese operations increased by 179.1 billion yen to 206.6 billion yen.

In North America, officials tabulated that vehicle sales totaled 276,000 units, a drop of 250,000. They added operating income sunk by 80.8 billion yen to 28.9 billion yen, including 3.9 billion yen of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps. Operating income, excluding the impact of valuation gains/losses on interest rate swaps, decreased by 76.2 billion yen to 32.8 billion yen.

In Europe, Toyota reported vehicle sales came in at 174,000, a slip of 13,000 units, while operating loss increased by 0.7 billion yen to 7.5 billion yen.

In Asia, the OEM’s vehicle sales were 259,000, a decrease of 26,000, while operating income decreased by 30.1 billion yen to 60.1 billion yen.

In Central and South America, Oceania and Africa, Toyota’s vehicle sales totaled 220,000, a drop of 102,000, while operating income slipped by 20.0 billion yen to 21.0 billion yen.

In the financial services segment, Toyota determined operating income decreased by 20.5 billion yen to 94.6 billion yen compared to the same period last fiscal year, including 2.3 billion yen of valuation gains/losses from interest rate swaps. Excluding valuation gains/losses, operating income decreased by 12.6 billion yen to 96.9 billion yen.