Europe’s biggest carmaker, VW, saw net profits fall 80% last year to 960m euros. Operating profits also fell 71% from a year earlier to 1.9bn euros, and revenues fell 8% to 105bn euros.
But global sales rose 1.3% to 6.3 million vehicles, thanks to a 36.7% jump in deliveries to China.
Deliveries to the German car market also rose 17.6% last year on the back of the government’s scrappage scheme, gaining a market share of 34.2% and sales have continued to surge during the early part of 2010, with worldwide deliveries rising 27% in the last two months.
The increase outpaced a 20% rise in global vehicle sales by all firms during the period, the company said.
“We have no intention of slowing down in 2010,” said VW chief Martin Winterkorn.
The firm has a stated aim of overtaking Toyota as the world’s number one car manufacturer by 2018.
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