Honda's Q1 net up nearly 20% on strong sales in North America

Japanese car manufacturer Honda announced on Friday that it had achieved a net profit of nearly 20% for the April-June 2015 period. 

In a statement, the company said that this rise in profit was due to strong sales in North America.

It also said that a weak Japanese Yen had helped to offset the impact of an exploding air-bag crisis.

Profit for the Honda Civic range was pegged at 186 billion Yen or $1.5 billion for the three months, up from 155.6 billion Yen in 2014-15.

Sales were pegged at 3.7 trillion Yen, a rise of over 15%.

Operating profit rose 16.4%.

Honda is ranked third in Japan's automotive industry.