Honda said it more than doubled its quarterly operating profit as production recovered from a number of natural disasters last year.

The automaker also forecast a near-tripling of operating profit in the year ahead on surging Asian sales and a recovery in the United States, marking an emphatic rebound from a 2011 hammered by the yen's record strength and natural disasters.

Honda today reported operating profit for the January-March period of 111.98 billion yen ($1.4 billion), up from 46.21 billion yen the year before. Net profit, which includes earnings made in China, rose 60.7 percent to 71.59 billion yen, from 44.5 billion yen in 2011.

The results ended a five-quarter decline in operating profits for Japan's No.3 automaker, after a 2011 hit by the yen's record strength, natural disasters and a crisis of reputation in its key U.S. market.

"More recently, following the introduction of the second generation Insight in 2009, Honda introduced a total of six new hybrid models in the last three years to expand the hybrid vehicle lineup and sales. Honda's annual worldwide hybrid sales for 2011 was approximately 200,000 units (up 30% compared to 2010), and Honda's total hybrid sales during the last three years exceeded 500,000 units. In Japan, the ratio of hybrid vehicles exceeded 45% of all new Honda's vehicle registrations for the month of December 2011. "