Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday its net profit in the April-December period tumbled 42.2 percent from a year earlier to 465.44 billion yen ($3 billion) after sluggish car sales.

The Japanese automaker maintained its full-year net profit outlook, expecting 300.0 billion yen, even though it raised its sales forecast to 21.1 trillion yen from the previous estimate of 20.7 trillion yen.

==Kyodo

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