In the first 11 months of 2010, VW sales in China rose 38 percent to 1.8 million units, said Soh Weiming, VW's executive president for China, during a press briefing at the Guangzhou auto show.

The carmaker's share of sales in southern China rose to 15 percent at the end of October, up from 13 percent at the beginning of the year, he said.

Volkswagen is counting on China to help it surpass Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's biggest carmaker by 2018. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker aims to boost global sales to more than 7 million units this year for the first time.

Volkswagen's nine-month operating profit in China more than doubled to 1.3 billion euros (11.4 billion yuan). The company will spend 10.6 billion euros in the country through 2015 as part of a plan to add two factories to its current nine and double annual production to 3 million units.

Through November, VW's Audi unit increased China sales by 50 percent to 139,900 vehicles on demand for an extended version of the A6 sedan. Czech unit Skoda's China sales rose 56 percent growth to 167,000 cars.

Volkswagen makes cars and SUVs through two ventures in China with partners SAIC Motor Corp. and China FAW Group Corp.