Honda has reported a 63% earnings increase for the third quarter of 2007. The sharp increase was fueled by strong sales of the automaker’s CR-V crossover vehicle. Honda factories are running at full capacity — even in its home market of Japan where demand is down — due to increased demand in North America and Europe.
Honda’s net profit from July to September totaled 208.5 billion yen ($1.83 billion), out pacing estimates of 185.8 billion yen.
Despite the tremendous gain, some analysts are concerned that Honda is relying too heavily on the U.S. market. “They rely quite heavily on the U.S. market and housing there right now is very weak. Cars and housing are really linked, so we have to watch this,” said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
