Toyota bucked the recent trend of gloomy annual-earnings forecasts from Japanese carmakers, and raised the amount of profit it expects to make to JPY780 billion ($9.7 billion). Like its rivals in Japan, Toyota has suffered from a sharp drop in sales in China, because of political tensions over some disputed islands. But its business in America has been thriving, mostly driven by demand for its Prius, Camry and Corolla models. Suzuki decided to stop selling cars in the United States and put its American division into bankruptcy protection. The Japanese carmaker's small vehicles sell well in India and South-East Asia, but it struggled to compete against bigger American models.