Toyota quarterly profit $1.2 billion as sales recover

Toyota moved back into black in the latest quarter as the world's top carmaker cut costs and was helped by the global auto sales recovery while fighting to salvage its reputation for quality.

But the automaker's top executive and analysts alike said Toyota is still far from a full recovery while another potential blow to its image looms after U.S. federal authorities launched a fresh investigation into a steering recall.

Toyota Motor Corp. said today that January-March profit totaled 112 billion yen ($1.2 billion) compared with a 766 billion yen loss the year before.

Quarterly revenue jumped to 5.28 trillion yen ($57 billion) from 3.54 trillion yen a year earlier, when purchases of cars and other vehicles were slumping amid the global financial crisis.