VW has revealed that its 2010 first-quarter profit nearly doubled on an upsurge in sales that improved in key markets like Europe, China and North America.
The company, Europe’s biggest carmaker by sales, said it earned 473 million euros in the period from January to March compared with 243 million euros a year earlier.
VW said its revenue rose more than 19 percent to 28.6 billion euros in the first quarter compared with nearly 24 billion euros in 2009.
The VW family of brands includes Audi, Seat, Bentley and Skoda and it is also a major shareholder in two of Europe’s largest truckmakers, Germany’s MAN and Sweden’s Scania.
VW also acquired a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche last year, and plans to take over the legendary German sports car maker.
Volkswagen has said it wants to sell more than 10 million vehicles annually by 2018 as it pursues current world No. 1 carmaker Toyota.
Analysts believe the company’s multi-brand strength, technological expertise, financial position and global presence have helped VW get through the economic downturn better than its competitors.
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