Subaru Corp. on Wednesday raised its profit outlook for the business year ending March thanks to stronger-than-expected car sales in the United States.

The company revised upward its net profit forecast to 80 billion yen ($760 million) and operating profit outlook to 110 billion yen for the year from the 60 billion yen and 80 billion yen, respectively, projected in August.

Subaru said it enjoyed brisk sales of its Outback sport utility vehicle in the U.S. market in the July-September quarter.

The company also upgraded its sales projection to 2.95 trillion yen from 2.90 trillion yen.

After a money-losing April-June quarter, Subaru became profitable in the quarter to September, booking a net profit of 23.71 billion yen through the first half of its business year.

Compared to the previous year, its bottom line in the six months was down 65.3 percent as a drop in auto demand mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic caused its global vehicle sales to shrink 28 percent during the period.

"Now that we have returned to profitability, we have overcome the worst," Subaru President Tomomi Nakamura said in a teleconference.

Its six-month operating profit dropped 67.7 percent to 30.61 billion yen on sales of 1.22 trillion yen, down 24.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said the same day it incurred a net loss of 209.88 billion yen in the six months to September, blaming slumping global sales and an asset impairment loss.

An alliance partner of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA of France said it logged an operating loss of 82.63 billion yen. Its first half losses compare to a net profit of 2.60 billion yen and an operating profit of 10.23 billion yen a year earlier.

Its sales tumbled 49.0 percent to 574.87 billion yen.

Mitsubishi kept its earlier earnings projection unchanged for the full year to March, expecting a net loss of 360 billion yen, an operating loss of 140 billion yen and a 34.8 percent fall in sales to 1.48 trillion yen.

==Kyodo

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