Volkswagen's third-quarter profit has surpassed analysts' predictions thanks to strong sales from the Audi and Skoda brands, the company reporting 3.23 billion euros, or $4.1 billion, in earnings before interest and taxes. The figure marks a rise of 16 percent compared with the previous year.
"VW is delivering very good results despite the increasingly difficult market conditions," said Frank Biller, a Stuttgart-based analyst at LBBW, as quoted by Bloomberg News. "They seem to have costs under control."
Bloomberg had earlier predicted a 2.81 billion-euro estimated profit based on estimates from 13 analysts.
The biggest European automaker, VW is on track to reach its goal to sell 10 million vehicles this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Third-quarter profit for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company jumped 58 percent year over year.
"We have turned in a solid performance in the year to date," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement quoted by the Journal. VW is next looking to "increase efficiency, flexibility, and profitability," he said, with the goal being to "respond to the major technological and economic challenges facing the automotive industry."
Luxury brand Audi saw a 10 percent rise in sales for the first nine months of the year, while Skoda reported a 13 percent sales jump for the same period. Skoda, which is a Czech car brand owned by Volkswagen Group, posted a third-quarter operating profit nearly double that of the previous year, jumping from 371 million euros to 651 million euros year over year.
Volkswagen plans to launch dozens of new brands during the next year as it seeks to overtake Toyota, which is the current leader in auto sales.
As the company pushes for increased sales, the VW brand has suffered. Winterkorn aims to boost profit for the namesake brand through cost reductions and other measures.
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