Toyota shares jumped Tuesday after the world’s top-selling automaker reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profits and boosted its fiscal year profit outlook.

Strong sales of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and a weak yen that pushed up dollar-denominated revenue drove the result.

Quite a turnaround from last year when Chair Akio Toyoda was under fire from big investors for questioning the wisdom of a rapid transition to fully electric vehicles.

Toyota’s decision to walk more slowly toward an all-electric future than rivals such as Volkswagen or General Motors is paying off – for now.

(Some rivals are also climbing back on the hybrid bandwagon. Ford reported sales of its hybrid models jumped nearly 43% in January, while EV sales slumped by nearly 11%. GM confirmed it plans to offer a plug-in hybrid in North America.)

Toyota cranked profit margins to 14% for the latest quarter by holding down inventories and defending high prices. Tesla’s pursuit of sales volume through price cutting sliced its profit margins to a more Detroit-style 8.2%.

Toyota’s culture of rejecting complacency and pushing for continuous improvement will come in handy going forward. The company has to deal with product certification test cheating scandals at affiliates, including the Daihatsu mini-car brand.

Tesla and China’s BYD have leads in EV production profitability and new manufacturing technology that threaten Toyota’s dominance as the industry’s low-cost mass producer in the longer term.

But for now, Akio Toyoda and CEO Koji Sato are winning. Since Jan. 1, Toyota’s Japanese shares are up 21% and are testing record highs. Tesla’s stock is down 27% – a market cap loss of $214 billion.