Growth in sales to developing economies in Asia - especially India, China and Indonesia - helped Honda Motor, Japan's third largest carmaker, report record consolidated net profit for the year ending in March of Y486bn ($4.6bn), a 4.7 per cent increase over last year.

The emergence of Asia as a driver of growth marks a shift away from a reliance on the US. Nissan Motor said this week that most of its expected growth in future sales would come from "global other markets", which includes Asia.