Volkswagen has announced very impressive first quarter profits of €1.7 billion ($2.5 billion USD based on current exchange rates). That's more than three times the profit the Volkswagen Group earned in the first quarter of 2010, as revenue climbed 31 percent to €37.5 billion ($55 billion USD.). Profit from ongoing operations came in at an even more impressive €2.91 billion ($4.26 billion USD). In total, VW managed to move a record two million vehicles in the quarter, up 14 percent versus Q1 2010.

A big reason for VW's stellar sales is the automaker's continued success in China, where deliveries were up 20 percent on the quarter. VW says that it made €557 million ($817 million) from Chinese operations.

A 14 percent increase in global Audi sales also helped the bottom line, bringing in €1.1 billion ($1.6 billion). The Volkswagen Group reports Audi sales of 374,000 vehicles for the quarter. Interestingly, Audi brought in the same amount of money as the larger Volkswagen brand, which also brought in €1.1 billion.

VW has been spending big to expand and improve its lineup, but the German automaker's profits have helped keep the cash coffers stocked. The automaker currently has €19.6 billion in liquid cash ($29 billion in U.S. dollars), up €1 billion from the end of 2010. Hit the jump to read over the VW press release.



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