Nissan on Wednesday said its fiscal-year net profit soared 17.6 percent to $4.2 billion, crediting a weak yen and new model rollouts for buoyant results that drove past its own earlier forecasts.

Japan's number-two automaker reported a 457.6 billion yen profit in the year to March -- it had been expecting earnings of 420 billion yen -- on sales of 11.38 trillion yen, up 8.5 percent.

The company projected an even stronger 485.0 billion yen profit this business year.

Also Wednesday, however, Nissan and Toyota separately announced a huge recall tied to an exploding air bag crisis, with Nissan calling back 1.56 million vehicles while its rival recalled five million vehicles globally.