The Volkswagen Group reported a 19.9% rise in sales revenue for the YtD to 92.5 billion euros while operating profit more than tripled to 4.8 billion euros.

The number of vehicles delivered rose by 12.9% to 5.4 million, a new delivery record for the Group.

Volkswagen also said that its Chinese joint ventures made a key contribution to its success although these have not been included in the latest results.

Almost all brands saw increases in sales.

Volkswagen Passenger Cars lifted unit sales by 11.8% to 2.8 million while operating profit improved to 1.6 billion euros (0.3 billion euros).

At Audi, unit sales were up by 13.6% to 968,000 vehicles in the reporting period. Operating profit almost doubled to €2.3 billion (€1.2 billion).

Skoda brand saw unit sales rise by 4.3% in the first three quarters of 2010 to 426,000 (409,000) vehicles. Operating profit rose to 314 million euros (162 million euros).

SEAT was boosted by the recovery of the Spanish passenger car market, with unit sales climbing by 10.6% to 260,000 (235,000) vehicles. As a result, its operating loss narrowed to -218 million euros (-228 million euros).

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles sold 248,000 vehicles in the reporting period, up by 21.7% and generated an operating profit of 142 million euros (390 million euros).

With an operating profit of 684 million euros (468 million euros), Volkswagen Financial Services contributed to the Group’s strong results in the first nine months of 2010.

Volkswagen said that the strong sales seen in the first nine months of 2010 would not continue as strongly in Q4 but said that 2010 deliveries would would be substantially higher than for 2009.