
Toyota achieved a record annual profit and sales above 10 million vehicles for the first time, but forecast Thursday a slower year ahead as the momentum from a weak yen fades.

Toyota achieved a record annual profit and sales above 10 million vehicles for the first time, but forecast Thursday a slower year ahead as the momentum from a weak yen fades.

“A financial crisis could develop in about three years,” said Jochen Siebert, managing director of consultancy JSC Automotive Consulting in Shanghai. China could soon become a major trouble spot for automakers and their suppliers.

Suzuki will launch a new model every year for the next three years to increase annual vehicle sales in its European markets by about 100,000 units to 300,000 by 2016.

European vehicle sales are likely to grow in 2014 for the first time in seven years, though unemployment and the lingering impact of sovereign debt problems will limit the extent, a think tank affiliated with Hyundai Motor Group said.

Volvo Car Group said global sales rose 14 percent year-on-year in September, its third straight month of rising deliveries, on the back of strong growth in China and Europe.