Volkswagen said Wednesday that improved sales helped lift its first-quarter net profit by more than 25 percent and predicted a substantial increase in demand from Asia, Europe and South America. The Wolfsburg-based company, Europe's biggest car maker by sales, said it earned $1.5 billion in the January-March period, compared with around $1.1 billion the year before. Operating profit rose 21 percent to $2 billion from $1.58 billion a year earlier.Sales rose 1.4 percent to $43.01 billion. The number of cars sold rose by 6.9 percent worldwide to 1.6 million from 1.5 million.
Details of sales by brand -- including VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Seat and Skoda -- are expected on April 30. On Monday, Volkswagen said it expected its April sales to be up seven percent on last year, with approximately 550,000 cars sold.
The company said plans to offer several new models this year would push up sales.
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