TOKYO -- Profit at Honda climbed 8.8 percent for the most recent quarter on strong sales in North America, Europe and Asia, prompting Japan's No.

Honda's profits fail to meet market expectations because it cannot make its cars quick enough to meet US demand.

Honda Motor Co. (7267.T) posted a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit as fierce competition in China weighed on sales, and it left its operating profit forecast unchanged despite a big lift from a weaker yen.

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, said third-quarter profit rose 9 percent, helped by demand for its Civic compact car and a weaker yen.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Honda Motor Co. posted a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit, helped by brisk sales in Europe and a weak yen that offset a dip in U.S. sales -- where Honda could not keep up with demand -- and nudged its full-year forecast higher.

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, said third-quarter profit rose 9 percent, helped by demand for its fuel-efficient Civic compact car and a weaker yen. It raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Honda Motor Co. <7267.T> posted a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit, helped by brisk sales in Europe and a weak yen that offset a dip in U.S. sales -- where Honda could not keep up with demand -- and nudged its full-year forecast higher.

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, said third-quarter profit rose 9 percent, helped by demand for its fuel-efficient Civic compact car and a weaker yen. It raised its full-year profit forecast.

Profit at Honda climbed 8.8 percent for the most recent quarter on strong sales in North America, Europe and Asia, prompting Japan's No. 2 automaker on Wednesday to raise its full-year profit forecast.

Honda is reshaping itself from the high-revving sports car brand of the 1990s to a more mundane bread-and-butter brand in an effort to become one of Australia's top four by 2010.