Toyota Motor Corp on Friday posted a quarterly operating profit of 353 billion yen ($4.51 billion), from a loss a year ago, after production and sales rebounded in North America and Japan to signal a full recovery from last year's natural disasters.

The profit was higher than the average estimate of 314.1 billion yen based on eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S and compared with a 108-billion yen loss a year earlier.

Net profit was 290 billion yen, compared with 1.2 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

Toyota regained its crown as the world's best-selling car brand, beating General Motors and Volkswagen AG, in the first half of 2012. – Reuters