FRANKFURT (AFP) - Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, said Friday that its net profit zoomed ahead by more the 40 per cent last year on higher vehicle sales.

Volkswagen said in a statement its net profit soared by 40.9 per cent to a record 21.7 billion euros (S$35 billion) in 2012 as revenues rose by 20.9 per cent to 192.7 billion euros and deliveries to customers were up 12.2 per cent at 9.276 million vehicles.