(May 8, 2015) Increased North American sales and favorable foreign exchange rates have caused Toyota profits to surge in the latest quarter while propelling record full-year earnings. Operating profit jumped 46 percent to 635.7 billion yen ($5.31 billion) in the carmaker’s fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, compared with 436.1 billion yen ($3.65 billion) a year earlier, according to Toyota.

Net income jumped by more than half to 446.4 billion yen ($3.73 billion), from 297.0 billion yen ($2.48 billion) a year earlier. Global revenue advanced 8.4 percent to 7.12 trillion yen ($59.52 billion) in the period, despite a 2.4 percent drop in global retail sales to 2.542 million vehicles.

In announcing the results, President Akio Toyoda attributed the gains to cost cutting and the yen’s depreciation. But he added that Toyota is now entering a new era of expansion after taking a three-year pause on new factories.

The offensive will begin in the second-half of this year with the debut of the first vehicle developed on Toyota’s new modular product platform. And it will continue through 2020 with a new factory in Mexico and new line in China.

“This year is an important turning point,” Toyoda said. “We are moving from the intentional pause stage into the execution stage. We will be able to see how strong Toyota has become.”

North America was a bright spot for the world’s largest automaker in the January-March quarter, with increasing sales there offsetting declines in Japan and the rest of Asia. With a range of trucks, crossovers and SUVs, Toyota was ready to catch customers shifting to less fuel-thrifty rides.

Sales in the U.S., Toyota’s biggest market, advanced 7.1 percent to 607,000 vehicles in the fiscal fourth quarter. Sales in Japan fell 14 percent to 626,000 vehicles, while European volume edged 5.1 percent higher to 225,000 units in the three-month period.

Rising demand for higher-margin trucks in markets such as the United States helped the bottom line. North America regional operating profit surged 72 percent to 88 billion yen ($735.6 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter, from a year earlier.

Sources: Toyota, Automotive News