Toyota Motor Corp on Wednesday said it expects operating profit to climb 10% this business year, with a five-fold jump in pure electric vehicle (EV) sales amid an easing in global supply chain disruption wrought by a chip shortage.

The growth plan was unveiled by new CEO Koji Sato, installed last month, and signals a more aggressive push towards electrification by the Japanese firm which has previously pursued a go-slow approach to all-electric cars, arguing its strategy would provide more consumer choice.

The world’s biggest car maker by sales forecast battery EV sales, including those of its luxury Lexus brand, will reach 202,000 worldwide in the current business year through March 2024 – up more than fivefold from just 38,000 units last year.

Toyota forecast operating profit will rise to 3.0 trillion yen ($22.2 billion) this business year, in line with analysts’ average forecast of 3.02 trillion yen.

That target came operating profit for the fiscal fourth quarter through March surged more than a third to 626.9 billion yen – easily ahead of the average 553.46 billion yen profit estimated by 10 analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

The result was helped by the weak yen boosting the value of overseas sales, and higher output volumes that outweighed the impact of surging materials costs. Reflecting the weak yen impact, revenue for the business year ended March 2023 grew to a record 37.15 trillion yen.

Toyota shares, which were nearly flat just before the release of the earnings, surged immediately after their publication and rose as much as 2.5% before paring gains to close up 0.8%.