We would like to now begin the fiscal year 2022 third quarter financial results presentation. We thank you very much for your attendance. First of all, let me introduce to you the participants. COO, Mr. Ashwani Gupta. CFO, Mr. Stephen Ma. First of all, Mr. Gupta will give a presentation. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Hamaguchi-san. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining Nissan's third quarter results for the period ending December 31, 2022. Nissan continues to gain strong momentum as we work on ways to navigate ongoing disruptions and find new approaches to tackle bottlenecks. We are making company-wide efforts around the world to increase our production and complete deliveries as soon as possible. As always, Nissan's number one priority is to meet our customer needs. I want to thank our customers for their orders and for their patience as they wait delivery of new vehicles. This could not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our suppliers, dealers, partners, and all our employees. I thank you for your continued commitment to the success of Nissan. Now, I will take you through our latest results.
As mentioned, our performance should be seen against the backdrop of the headwinds impacting the wider auto industry. Although Nissan is now not immune to the global shortage of semiconductors, we introduced countermeasures to secure chip supplies. This enabled us to increase production volumes in the first nine months of the fiscal year with accelerating output in the third quarter. Despite these measures, unit sales were negatively impacted by three main issues. First, the ongoing disruption in China caused by COVID-19. Second, shortage of semiconductors in the United States for compact segment models. Third, vehicle exports hampered by the constraints in global logistics. Despite these challenges, we have prioritized production of models where there are no supply constraints to regulate production. In some cases, producing cars to replenish dealer inventory back to healthy levels. This helped lift our production volumes.
Global production rose by 9.0% year-on-year to 909,000 units in the three months to December 31. This represented an accelerating trend on the 2.4% increase in production volume to 2.526 million units achieved in the first nine months of the fiscal year. Although we were able to ramp up production, year-on-year unit sales declined 6.9% to 842,000 units in the third quarter. Our third quarter retail sales varied noticeably around the world. In Japan, our home market, sales rose 11.4% to 104,000 units as we successfully increased production to meet domestic and export demand. Japanese unit sales reflected demand for models such as the Note and Aura, as well as the Sakura and X-Trail.
For all these models, we are working hard to ensure deliveries as soon as possible to customers. In China, retail sales were down 6.9% to 292,000 units in the third quarter as the COVID lockdown continued to impact customer traffic. In North America, sales were down 2.1% to 256,000 units. This was primarily due to semiconductor constraints in the production of compact cars, including the Sentra, Versa, and Kicks. Turning to Europe, excluding the Russia market, which we have withdrawn from, quarterly unit sales was up 1.8% as we moved to stabilize production and meet back orders. In other markets, unit sales were 22.7% lower at 113,000 units.
Although production in these markets was flat, sales were severely constrained by logistic issues affecting exports to markets such as the Gulf and Oceania. In summary, Nissan is continuing to address macro headwinds by rebuilding production, by focusing unit sales on core models, and by prioritizing sustainable growth in the long term. By doing so, we will continue to deliver on our Nissan NEXT and our long-term vision, Nissan Ambition 2030. I will present our core model performance of our flagship product in key markets. Starting with Japan, We are pleased with the segment share achieved by our Note and Aura models, which rose by 1.8 points to 15.7% in the third quarter. Revenue per unit was up 1% in a very competitive marketplace.
The strong market acceptance of our vehicles is also underlined by the Sakura EV winning the triple crown of Japan Car of the Year, the RJC Car of the Year, and the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame Car of the Year. The Note and Aura being the top-selling electrified vehicle demonstrates our strong leadership in electrification. In the Chinese market, our best-selling Sylphy continues to hold 16.6% of its segment. Although revenue per unit on the Sylphy was down 1%, it remained China's best-selling sedan, an accolade that it has held for three years in a row. In the United States, where we have a strong position in SUVs, we saw an encouraging 9% increase in revenue per unit for the Rogue, which rose 7.5% segment share. We are also encouraged by the strong growth in other SUV segments.
The segment share for Pathfinder rose by 2.5 points, and the INFINITI QX60 segment share rose by 3.6 points year-on-year. In the European market, we saw a particularly strong sales and revenue per unit performance for the Qashqai. Revenue were up 13% per unit on a stable segment share that rose to 4.4%. The Qashqai is the best-selling model in the U.K., and our e-POWER technology was named Best Innovation by Auto Moto Grand Prix in Europe. As I explained, the industry remains to face uncertainties, but it is very encouraging to see strong customer acceptance of our core models in each market. I will now turn from these highlights to our underlying financial performance.
The next two slides show our key financial performance indicators on both the China JV proportionate basis and equity basis for the third quarter and the nine-month period. On an equity basis, which excludes contribution from our China JV, our net revenues for the third quarter rose by 28.6% to JPY 2.84 trillion from JPY 2.21 trillion in the same period of 2021. On the same basis, operating profit for the period was JPY 133.1 billion with an operating margin of 4.7%. For the third quarter, net income was JPY 50.6 billion. Excluding the one-time loss from the exit from the Russian market this year, net income would have significantly improved from the prior year to JPY 137 billion.
Our automotive free cash flow significantly improved in the third quarter to a positive JPY 119 billion versus a negative JPY 1.2 billion in the prior year. Net cash for the automotive business improved to JPY 1.09 trillion. On a proportionate basis, which includes our China operations, our net revenue for the third quarter rose to JPY 3.19 trillion from JPY 2.51 trillion last year. Operating profit under this measure reached JPY 162.6 billion for the quarter, representing an operating margin of 5.1%. Nissan's automotive profit continued to be positive for two consecutive quarters as we remain committed to strengthening the sustainability of our core business. In the third quarter, automotive free cash flow improved to JPY 83.5 billion.
Net cash for the automotive business reached JPY 1.57 trillion on this basis. Nissan also continues to maintain strong levels of liquidity. This next slide highlights our key financial performance indicators for the nine months ending December 31st, 2022. On an equity basis, which excludes contribution from our China JV operations, our net revenues for the period increased to JPY 7.5 trillion from JPY 6.15 trillion in the same period last year. On the same basis, operating profit for the period was JPY 289.7 billion with an operating margin of 3.9%. Nissan's automotive profit is also positive for the nine-month period. For the nine-month period, net income was JPY 115 billion.
As I previously mentioned, for the third quarter, the decline versus the previous year can be explained by the one-time loss from the exit from the Russian market this year. In addition, last year, there was the one-time gain from the sale of Daimler shares. Excluding the one-time gain and loss, our net income significantly improved from the prior year. Free cash flow for the automotive business was a positive JPY 21 billion for the nine-month period. As previously noted, our free cash flow significantly improved in the third quarter to a positive JPY 119 billion. The positive free cash flow in the second and the third quarters covered the negative free cash flow in the first quarter, which was due to low production. We expect our free cash flow to continue to be positive for the remainder of this fiscal year.
On a proportionate basis, which includes our China operations, our net revenue for the nine-month period rose to JPY 8.45 trillion from JPY 7.11 trillion last year. Operating profit under this measure reached JPY 375.2 billion for the period, representing an operating margin of 4.4%. Despite our China JV continuing to generate positive free cash flow, the automotive free cash flow on proportionate basis was -JPY 32.2 billion for the nine-month period. This is because the dividend payment from China JV to Nissan is not included in the free cash flow of proportionate basis. Net cash for the automotive business reached JPY 1.57 trillion on this basis. Let us look at the financial performance for the nine-month period.
This is the income statement for the nine months ending December 31, 2022 on an equity basis. Net revenue increased by JPY 1.35 trillion from the previous year to JPY 7.5 trillion. Net revenue increased year on year despite the decrease in sales volume, which was primarily driven by the improvement in net revenue per unit as well as the weakening of the yen. Operating profit increased by JPY 98.4 billion from the prior year to JPY 289.7 billion, representing an operating margin of 3.9%. I will explain the details on the variance on the next slide. Net income for the nine-month period was JPY 115 billion.
The decrease from the previous year was primarily due to one-time factors from the sale of Daimler shares in the prior year and exit from the Russian market this fiscal year. For the three-month period, the net income increased significantly from the previous year, despite booking an extraordinary loss on the exit from Russian market this fiscal year. Turning now to the operating profit variance analysis for the nine-month period. This slide shows the variance factors from the nine-month period from last year to this year. Foreign exchange had a positive impact of JPY 161.8 billion, primarily due to the strong U.S. dollar and Canadian dollar as tailwinds, but also offset by the headwinds in other currencies like Mexican peso and Chinese yuan.
The increase in raw material prices had a negative impact of JPY 180.6 billion, primarily driven by price hikes in materials such as steel, aluminum, and plastics. Sales performance had a positive impact of JPY 341.9 billion. The continued improvement in quality of sales was the biggest contributing factor with the decrease in incentives as well as improvement in pricing. Increased volume and mix and increase after sales also were contributing factors. Monozukuri cost had a negative impact of JPY 111.7 billion, primarily driven by cost inflation in manufacturing and logistics, and also regulatory and product enrichment. Other items had a negative impact of JPY 113 billion from the previous year, due to primarily to the JPY 77.6 billion decline in profit for the sales finance business.
This was due to one-time gains last year from the release of credit loss provisions, as well as decline in assets resulting from the decrease in sales volume due to production constraints from supply chain disruptions. Used car price fluctuations had a negative impact of JPY 29.5 billion. As we had one-time gains in the previous year from high used car prices, increased SG&A and other items had an additional impact of JPY 5.9 billion. Turning now to our outlook for the fiscal year 2022. During the first nine months of the fiscal year, the automotive industry continued to face a challenging business environment due to the semiconductor supply shortage and the impact of the China lockdown.
As a result, we are lowering our global sales volume forecast from 3.7 million units - 3.4 million units, with adjustments mainly in China and North America. China is due to lockdown caused by COVID-19. North America, there was a deterioration in TIV. As mentioned earlier, there are continued semiconductor shortages. This is full year forecast for fiscal year 2022 on the equity method basis. Despite the expected decrease in sales volume for the fiscal year, we have maintained the forecast for net sales of JPY 10.9 trillion and operating profit of JPY 360 billion, which represents an operating profit margin of 3.3%. The exchange rate assumptions for the current fiscal year have been revised from JPY 135 to JPY 134 for the U.S.
dollar from JPY 137 to JPY 140 for the euro. Compared with the original outlook, which was announced in May 2022, the operating profit has increased by JPY 110 billion despite 600,000 units reduction in retail sales. Our forecast for the net income remains at JPY 155 billion. As we previously stated, this incorporates the extraordinary loss of JPY 110.5 billion due to the exit from Russian market. Without the one-time impact of Daimler share sales in the previous year and the Russia exit in this year, our net income would have increased significantly from the previous year. This slide shows the operating profit variance from the previous outlook. We expect a slight deterioration in Forex and slight improvement in the raw materials and logistics versus the previous outlook.
As we are revising the sales volume forecast from 3.7 million- 3.4 million units, volume and mix is expected to deteriorate by JPY 16 billion. We will offset this by improvement in performance. As such, we maintain our operating profit outlook at JPY 360 billion for this fiscal year. In addition to maintaining our financial outlook for the fiscal year and despite the expected decrease in sales volume, we are forecasting a positive automotive free cash flow for the fiscal year on an equity basis. Operating profit for the automotive segment is forecasted to be positive for the full fiscal year. In November, we decided to forgo payment of an interim dividend due to the uncertain external environment.
We are still forecasting a year-end dividend of JPY 5 per share or more, depending on the earnings and automotive free cash flow for the fiscal year. Improving shareholder returns continues to be one of our priorities, and we will work to increase the amount to an appropriate level in the future. We appreciate your understanding and support. Finally, to reiterate, our results are strong, especially achieved against a backdrop of severe market headwinds. As I said at the beginning, this is driven by tireless efforts of all our employees and partners, and I would like to convey my deepest appreciation for their hard work. We have successfully built an agile and flexible foundation to be able to adapt and overcome today's rapidly changing environments. Based on this strong foundation, we keep sowing the seeds for the future growth.
These seeds are beginning to bear fruit now, and the results are becoming apparent. One of the examples, as I mentioned, is how we have regained automotive profits sustained by introducing exciting new vehicles in each market. I so am pleased to see that customer acceptance for these new vehicles is very strong. This underscores the quality, innovation, and value that are represented by Nissan models. With this momentum, we are confident to achieve the goals of the Nissan NEXT transformation plan. Of course, this week we announced the exciting new initiatives for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. This will take our 24-year partnership to the next level and create fresh new growth opportunities for us. Together, we will embark on a new chapter to fast-track innovation and improve cost efficiencies. This continued partnership will further enhance Nissan's agility to innovate and transform in the fast-changing market.
Nissan is on the right path. Our passion, our innovation, and our challenges spirit will propel us through to the next decade as we come closer to realizing our long-term vision, Nissan Ambition 2030. The entire Nissan team is prioritizing all efforts to achieve sustainable growth. We will maximize our potential as we move forward a progressive future. Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen. We would like to start the Q&A session. If you have a question, please limit the number of question to two per person. If you have a question, please raise your virtual hand on the Zoom system. We will call on your name. If you are called, please unmute your microphone, switch on your camera, and when you see your face on the screen, please start speaking. The screen of your face will only be shown to the people who are joining this session.
The first question, please. Nikkei Shimbun, Yumai-san, please. Yumai-san.
Yes, hello. Nikkei Shimbun, Yumai speaking. Do you hear me?
Yes, we do. Go ahead, sir.
Yes, excuse me. I have two questions. First off, Gupta-san, this is the first question for you. Operating profit basis, well, it's much better than before. On the other hand, sales, especially in China, U.S., compared to last year, it's double-digit less. Semiconductor supply may be one of the reasons, but to start with, new model launches may not be so successful, especially in China. X-Trail is an issue. That's what I heard about. In terms of operation, isn't there any issue which is resulting in a sales performance? What's your assessment here? The sales performance, how are you going to recover this? This is my question for Gupta-san. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for this question. Let me go through the United States. At as first, our all the models around the world have been very well accepted by the customers. In last 21 months, we have launched 14 models, and every one is doing great. We have challenge on only one model, which is X-Trail in China. We have taken the countermeasures to recover that. Otherwise, all of our other models are doing great. Now I come to the United States. Regarding your question of our models which we have launched in United States, first of all, Rogue has increased by 18% with respect to last year. The Pathfinder has increased by 75% with respect to last year. The Altima has increased by 26% in the last year.
Where we faced the challenge was Sentra, Kicks, and Versa, which was dropped 40% with respect to last year because of the very particular semiconductor shortage for these cars. For example, all these cars put together were only 5% of our dealer inventory when they were, like, 18% of our dealer inventory. To conclude, each and every model in United States is very well accepted, and moving in the right direction. Now from quarter four, when we are ramping up our production for Sentra, Kicks, and Versa, because of the product mix in United States is changing, we will recover that. That's about the United States. When it comes to China being a big market, we have to make a categorization in the China.
Though the China TIV looks to be growing, but when you look at the joint venture, joint venture non-premium TIV, where the Nissan is and its competitors are in reality have declined. Of course, we have declined more than the market in China, and mainly because of COVID lockdown, but also, one of the performance on our vehicle. Moving forward, definitely we have put our plans to come back in the core models in China. Having said that, when we look at Kicks, when we look at Sylphy family, when we look at the other models in China, they are really doing good.
To conclude, U.S. and China, I think U.S. is absolutely okay, and China, we will recover after the COVID pandemic is recovered. Thank you.
Hai.
Okay, thank you. Second question, please, Yumai-san. What's your second question?
Thank you for the answer. Second question is for Ma-san. Well, it may be too premature, but this Monday there was announcement of rebalancing with Renault. Basically, you put the 28.4% in a trust and you may buy back as a treasury stock. This may be one of the options, right? According to your liquidity or financial performance, in doing a buyback of a treasury stock, how do you see your finance performance? Of course, you need to enhance the financial performance. What's your reservation on this front?
Thank you, Yumai-san, for the question. As we explained, during the event after the announcement, we had this question on the share sell-down of the trust. As we explained, the eventual sale by this trust will be very organized in an orderly manner. It will not be a massive one-time batch of selling. That's the first thing. Secondly, as we also explained, Nissan will always have the first right of offer, meaning we can always buy it back. If we buy it back, of course, we might keep it in treasury share or more likely we might also cancel the shares once we buy it back. That's a consideration we will take when we actually buy the shares back.
Your questions about the financial capability or liquidity of how to decide when to buy back. I think at this point in time, you can see from our Q3 financials, our cash position, net cash is very strong, more than JPY 1 trillion. We have very good liquidity.
We have, I believe very strong balance sheet and our profit, automotive side is positive now, even cumulative basis and auto free cash flow is positive. I think financial capability, I don't have any concerns. The only question is when that trust will eventually sell and how much they will sell, and we'll make sure we'll do it in a very organized and a very, tolerable manner. The main objective of both Renault and Nissan is to make sure it doesn't negatively impact Nissan share price when that does happen. That we have mutual interest in doing, making sure that we do it in a very organized way so that we don't negatively impact the share price so much. Does that answer your question?
Okay, moving on.
Yes, that answered. There were some if, uncertainties I know, but thank you for your answer.
Okay, next question please.
Yes.
Nikkan Kogyo, my name is Izawa. Thank you for this opportunity, gentlemen. My question is as follows. Raw material price, energy price, and logistics fees are increasing. How are you supporting the parts suppliers in these circumstances? Operating profit variance shows that, where will it appear? Because raw materials or monozukuri costs, where will it appear? Traditionally, for the price up you are making improvements and make sure you are sharing the profit as the suppliers. I think this was the policy of the cost reduction, but inflation impact is so big. How Nissan absorbs this price up or cost up and you pay it to suppliers, is this the way you handle this? If so, in order. Is this intended to protect the supply chain? Please elaborate. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for this question. We can go to slide number eight to talk about it. At first, we work very closely with our suppliers because they are our partners and without their sustainability, our business cannot be sustainable. That's the spirit which we have when we are working with our suppliers. Some of the changes which we have done in the scope of discussions in terms of cost with the suppliers that initially, we used to consider only raw material and foreign exchange impact when we used to talk about cost with our suppliers. We have expanded the scope to include inflation, to include energy, and to include logistics.
We do believe that these three indicators are impacting each and every one of us, whether it is automotive manufacturer or it is, auto-auto component supplier. Of course, case by case, we work very closely, to make sure that our suppliers are sustainable. This is more on the supplier side. On the other side, when we talk about the price increase on our cars, at the end, what's very important is that our customers should be willing to pay the price, which we have on our cars. That's why the indicator, the focus of Nissan, is not on the net price change. The focus of Nissan is how we increase our net revenue per unit, which is driven by how much value we put on the car.
For example, when you look at the Sakura today, even if it is a battery electric car, it comes with a very competitive price for the customer, which is not only driven by our own competitiveness, but which is also driven by the government support to the customers. At the end, it's a win-win situation for customer and Nissan. That's why in each and every region around the world, the pure price increase is the last thing we would like to do, but first, we would like to create the value and ask customers to pay for that. Finally, but not the least, whenever there is a cost increase, always there is an opportunity to go for cost reduction.
That's what we work together, that how we improve our process, how we improve our raw material utilization to improve the cost of the raw material. Hope it answers your question. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes.
Okay, moving on to the next question. Yomiuri Shimbun. Suzuki-san, please. Suzuki-san.
Yes, Suzuki from Yomiuri, do you hear me?
Yes, we do.
I have two questions. One by one, please. The first one is about China business. In the second quarter and the third quarter, I understand the lockdown impact was big and you have revised downward the profit. Since the year end of last year, zero COVID-19 policy has been changed in China, so how does it impact the production there? In the fourth quarter, depending on circumstances, fourth quarter, 1.04 million units in China may be revised upward or there is a upward opportunity? That's my first question. Please.
Thank you. Thank you for your question. Yes, you're right that Q2 and Q3 was the lockdown based on the financial year. When we talk about 1.02 million units. That's the actual, because, you know, China finished their financial year in the month of December. Whether we will be updating 1.02 million units. The answer is no, because that's the actual, we already did in China. When we look at January, February, March, definitely half of the January was, you know, related to the COVID and then vacation. Definitely what we are seeing today, in the month of February, that markets are coming back and the sales are going back.
More detail we would be sharing with you when we will be doing the full year financial announcement. At that time we will have the full quarter understanding of the China post-pandemic. Hope it answers your question. Let's wait for your second question.
Sure. Okay. Japanese market, that's the next question. Japanese market, delivery timing in Japan. Other OEMs this year have prioritized the allocation of supply for the backorder in Japan, how about Nissan? You haven't communicated about the delivery time of your vehicles. Nissan, what's the average delivery time today in Japan, and how much is it improving? Going forward, around when will this be normalized? What's the projection? This is my second question. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for your question. At first, when we look at Japan, with respect to last year quarter, we have improved our retail sales by 11.4%. We are continuing to improve it. Once again, I apologize to the Japanese customers, who were waiting for our great products, especially last year, and the deliveries were delayed, mainly driven by pandemic, but also the semiconductor shortages. Today, we have the models like Note Aura and Sakura and these kind of models, which have a waiting time between, two months-four months, depending on the grades.
We also have some of the models, especially, the Z, and the ARIYA, where the waiting time can go up to, for a specific grade, up to one year. This is where we are working hard to recover this waiting time because we really don't want our customers to wait so long. Last year, this was much more, and in one year we have recovered. It all depends on how the Tochigi plant is supporting the global production of Z and ARIYA, when ARIYA not only in Japan, there are many customers in United States and in Europe who are waiting for ARIYA.
The quarter three production for Tochigi will be 90% more than what we produced in quarter two, and quarter four production of ARIYA will be 70% more than what we produced in quarter three. This is how we want to ramp up Tochigi for Z and ARIYA to shorten the complete waiting time of our customers. Once again, I apologize to the customers who are waiting along for our, for our great models. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. As Ashwani-san said, Sakura delivery time as of today is, like, about one year. People have to wait for one year for Sakura.
Understood. Thank you.
Okay, moving on to the next question. Automotive News, Hans Greimel, please.
Hello, this is Hans Greimel from Automotive News. Can you hear me fine?
Hi. Yes.
Great. Thank you. I just had a question, follow-up about something that came out of Monday's announcement regarding the alliance. Your Renault counterparts at CEO Luca de Meo said that after the revamp of the alliance, that you could probably gain hundreds of millions of euros or even billions he suggested every year in new synergies. I'm wondering if you share that same assessment and what is Nissan's share of those shared synergies? How do you make What slice of that pie do you get as Nissan? Where does it come from that aren't already? What kind of synergies are gonna be generated that aren't already being generated? When will you start to see those trickle into your financial results?
Finally, this is a different topic, but at Tochigi plant, is this problem with production at Tochigi simply the chips, or is there something more fundamentally wrong with the new setup of the lines up there, the assembly lines or maybe the paint lines up there? Is there something that's more fundamental to the new setup of the manufacturing equipment?
Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Hans . I think, what Luca talked about are the high valued projects, which is one of the important pillar, of the next alliance. There are five main projects. One is, the India growth plan, where, we will be launching, many models, including the SUVs, utilizing, each other, not only for domestic market but for export market. The second is in Latin America, where we both will be exchanging products with each other, to cover the maximum of the car segments. The third one are the EV circular economy, talking about remanufacturing, recycling, in Europe.
The fourth one is the FlexEVan, which will be manufactured by Renault, and we will be using it in Europe. Finally, as we work together on the C-SUV, we will be also studying the next generation C-SUV and especially thinking about the 800V, the charging station. If we consider all these five projects moving forward, if all the five are being realized, because they have to go through the studies from now onwards, definitely we will have hundreds of millions among the alliance. It's too early for me to say whether how much will be the sharing.
For sure in the partnership there will be a sharing. What Luca said was on behalf of alliance that there will be hundreds of millions, not only on behalf of, on behalf of Renault. That's the first thing which I would like to emphasize. The second thing is on the Tochigi. I think many of you have already visited Tochigi plant. We call it Nissan Intelligent Factory, which is not only about a paint shop, which is best in class when it comes to, when it comes to the environment, which means, We are painting the bumper and the body in on the same line, which is good for cost efficiency but also CO2 efficiency.
We have introduced many new technologies in Tochigi Plant, including for the e-Powertrain. The main reason of Tochigi getting ramp up started with the pandemic because this plant was established during the time of pandemic. That's the first reason. The second is semiconductors. Third is now the time to ramp up and deliver the cars, not only in Japan, but being the only plant in the world to deliver to United States, Europe and Japan. That's how we are addressing this situation. That's why the waiting time on the Z and the ARIYA is comparatively more than the other models in Japan. Hope it answers your question. Thank you.
Thank you.
We are running out of time, next one will be the final question. Toyo Keizai, Inoue-san, please.
Inoue-san of Toyo Keizai, do you hear me?
Yes, we do, Inoue-san.
Toyo Keizai, Inoue speaking. The third quarter results operating profit by region, Japan, compared to Q2, profit is improving. Why? What's behind this? Could you elaborate on this?
Well, thank you. Thank you for this question. First of all, you know, Japan, the volumes are increasing in the quarter three because of better supply conditions. Most important, the net revenue per unit for all the cars which we have launched, of course, are improving. As a consequence, the quarter three results are improving. Japan capacity is mainly driven by the capacity utilization for domestic volumes, but also for the export volumes. What we see that they are increasing and hence improving the production efficiency in our Japanese plants. That's the main reason.
Thank you. We ran out of time. With this, we would like to conclude this session. Thank you for joining this session.