Volkswagen's luxury brand Audi is racing ahead of VW's other makes and generated more than 85 percent of total operating profit in 2009, according to group figures released on Thursday.
Audi's operating profit of 1.6 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) was nearly three times that of VW's eponymous brand, which posted a profit of 561 million euros.
VW's finance unit was the second biggest contributor to operating profit, turning in 606 million euros.
In terms of unit sales, Audi sold just under 950,000 vehicles, less than one quarter the 3.954 million VW's delivered last year.
"Without Audi, VW would not be profitable," German car expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the University of Duisburg told AFP.
The VW group "does not pay enough attention to costs," he added.
VW, Europe's biggest carmaker, aims to overtake Toyota as the world number one by 2018, and sell more than 10 million vehicles per year at that point.
To reach its goal, VW is ramping up local production in Brazil, India and the United States, countries where chairman Martin Winterkorn said the group was "under represented."
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