Toyota Motor on Wednesday stated its quarterly revenue greater than doubled from a 12 months in the past on robust world demand for hybrids and favorable exchange-rate strikes.

The auto big additionally raised its steering for the fiscal 12 months that can finish on March 31 and elevated its dividend and share-repurchase program. Its U.S.-traded shares rose greater than 3% in early buying and selling.

Toyota for years resisted making huge investments in purely electrical autos, saying repeatedly that it felt its well-regarded hybrids had been a greater wager for many clients. The corporate lastly relented in June, unveiling an aggressive plan to make huge investments in superior batteries and to spice up gross sales of its EVs to 1.5 million per 12 months by 2026. It stated Tuesday that it’ll spend $8 billion to drastically broaden a battery plant presently underneath building in North Carolina, set to open in 2025.

However with automobile buyers, notably within the U.S., edging away from EVs amid increased financing prices and considerations about public charging, Toyota is now within the place of benefiting from increased demand for its stalwart hybrids.

Gross sales of Toyota’s standard hybrids rose 41% from a 12 months in the past, to about 888,000, and gross sales of its plug-in hybrids had been up almost 90% year-over-year to roughly 39,000. “Electrified autos,” together with each sorts of hybrids, battery-electric fashions, and gas cell-powered autos, made up 36.4% of Toyota’s whole world gross sales within the quarter, up from 27.3% a 12 months earlier.

Toyota stated its working revenue within the quarter that ended on Sep. 30, the second quarter of its 2024 fiscal 12 months, elevated greater than 155% from a 12 months in the past to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.5 billion). Robust pricing on Toyota’s hybrid fashions, together with its new Prius, helped drive the year-over-year working revenue enhance.

Toyota’s income of 11.44 trillion yen ($75.7 billion) was 24% increased than a 12 months in the past, because it bought extra autos in all areas than it did within the year-ago interval. Complete car gross sales had been up nearly 13% from a 12 months in the past, to 2.4 million.

A part of Toyota’s year-over-year revenue enhance was pushed by trade charges, particularly the weakening of the yen towards the U.S. greenback and euro. On common, through the quarter, $1 was price 145 yen, up from 138 yen in the identical quarter of 2022. The transfer was much more dramatic in euro phrases, from a median of 139 yen per euro a 12 months in the past to 157 yen per euro within the interval.

Toyota additionally boosted its revenue forecast for the fiscal 12 months that can finish on March 31. It now expects revenue of 4.5 trillion yen ($29.8 billion), up from 3 trillion yen in its earlier steering. It stated it expects the weaker yen to account for almost all – about 1.2 trillion yen – of that enhance.

The corporate additionally introduced a 100 billion yen ($662 million) share buyback and elevated its dividend by 5 yen from a 12 months in the past, to 30 yen (20 cents) per share.