TOKYO, Aug 3 — Honda Motor Co climbed the most intraday in five months as demand for its Vezel and CR-V sport utility vehicles paced quarterly profit and monthly US sales that beat estimates.

Net income of ¥174.7 billion (RM6.9 billion) in the three months through June was driven by better-than-expected demand for XR-V and Vezel SUVs in China, Honda said yesterday in Tokyo.

The CR-V was the top-selling SUV in the US for the month of July, lifting Honda to a 4.4 per cent overall sales gain that also exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Honda surged as much as 6.4 per cent, their biggest intraday jump since March. The shares rose 3.7 per cent as of 10:46am today in Tokyo.

The sales and earnings results suggest president Takahiro Hachigo is progressing with efforts to turn around the third-largest Japanese automaker after the outsize impact of Takata Corp.’s air-bag crisis led the company underperform versus peers Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.

“We expected upbeat earnings beating the consensus in our advance forecast, but the actual results significantly exceeded expectations,” Takaki Nakanishi, an analyst for Jefferies Group LLC, wrote in a report.

“We realise that disclosure of very cautious guidance dealt a setback to investor trust in Honda’s ability to return to the mean. However, we think the latest results should serve as a catalyst for restoring trust.”

Net income topped the ¥134.6 billion average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The monthly US sales gain beat analysts’ average projection for a 0.4 per cent drop in deliveries and outpaced the 0.7 per cent industrywide increase.

Honda lowered its US spending on incentives and marketing promotions by about 11 per cent in the first six months, according to researcher Autodata Corp.

In China, a cut in the purchase tax of smaller-engine models spurred sales of cars like the City small sedan and XR-V crossover to outpace industrywide expansion.

“Sales have recently been growing steadily,” Eiji Hakomori, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Group Inc., wrote in a report last month. “In particular, sales in China appear to be outpacing the firm’s expectations” and its US sales have “gained vigor for the first time in a long time.”

Honda’s ¥3.47 trillion sales in the first quarter was in line with analysts’ ¥3.46 trillion average estimate Operating profit was ¥266.8 billion, compared with analysts’ ¥183.6 billion average estimate Honda maintained its full-year forecast for net income of ¥390 billion.— Bloomberg