Honda Motor Company, Limited, the largest engine-maker in the world, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines built each year, said its quarterly profit climbed 38 percent. The company announced on Wednesday that the increase is higher than expected and added that the strong global sales were aided by a jump in Asian margins in particular and strong global sales of its new CR-V crossover.

Japan's second-biggest automaker by sales volume after Toyota Motor Corp., changed its forecast for the next fiscal year ending on March 31 by 5-8 percent to push aside fears of a recession in the United States, where it sells about 40% of its cars.

Analysts are also positive about Honda’s growth prospects. The company added production capacity all around the world and its sales were also helped by the strong demand for its fuel-efficient cars.
 
The Japanese car manufacturer recorded a net profit of ¥200.01 billion ($1.87 billion) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, significantly higher than the ¥144.83 billion profit reported in the same period of last year.

Honda is also taking full advantage of the new increasing demand in the U.S. for its Accord sedan and popular Civic. The strong demand is caused by the higher fuel prices and the fact that Honda’s vehicles consume less fuel than the SUVs.

The company also reported strong sales on emerging markets and the cost-cutting efforts
also helped Honda’s profits, which turned out to be higher than the analysts had estimated.

Honda sold 481,000 vehicles in the U.S. during the quarter recording a 2.1% boost from last fiscal year. Earnings also rose 1.8%, while operating income climbed 32.3%, in part because of lower sales incentives and cost-cutting efforts.

In Asia Honda’s sales also climbed 21.3% to 188,000 units. Europeans bought 90,000 Hondas in the quarter, 25% more.

The Japanese market, a shrinking one because of the aging population, was the only one on which Honda reported a negative trend. Sales fell 7.1% to 145,000 vehicles in Japan.