(July 30, 2010) Volkswagen reported the biggest quarterly profit in two years on higher demand in China and the U.S. for the Golf compact and Audi A5 coupe.

Second-quarter net income quadrupled to 1.25 billion euros ($1.63 billion) from 283 million euros a year earlier, the company said. Profit beat the 721 million-euro median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Revenue rose 22 percent to 33.2 billion euros.

CEO Martin Winterkorn, aiming to surpass Toyota Motor Corp. in sales and profitability by 2018, is targeting a second straight year of record deliveries. In China alone, Volkswagen announced plans in the last two months to build two new factories to double production capacity.

“VW has a sound model mix and a solid footing in the growth regions of the world, that's why they had a strong quarter,” Daniel Schwarz, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank AG, said before the release. “VW's volume brands are selling well while Audi is benefiting from the reviving luxury market.”

VW said on June 16 that deliveries, which rose 16 percent in the first half, may “significantly” exceed last year's 6.29 million vehicles.

VW's two new factories will bring the carmaker's total in its biggest market to 11 as VW doubles production in China to 3 million vehicles within four years from 1.4 million in 2009. VW's first-half deliveries in the world's largest auto market climbed 46 percent to 950,278 vehicles.