Sales were reported up in North America, Europe and Asia, except Japan where sales were down about 40,000, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Japanese car maker, vying with General Motors to be the world automotive sales leader, posted a group net profit of 491.54 billion yen, or about $54 billion for its fiscal first quarter that ended June 30. This was up from 371.50 billion yen for the same period in 2006, the Wall Street Journal said.

Its group operating profit increased 32 percent to 675.43 billion yen while its group sales grew 16 to 6.523 trillion yen, Toyota said. It reported selling 2.16 million vehicles worldwide during the quarter.