Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, today defied recessionary gloom by reasserting it would beat last year's record for sales and profits in 2008.

In a remarkably upbeat view, VW announced a 15% jump in operating earnings in the first nine months of this year to €4.9bn (£3.87bn). Net earnings leapt 28.5% to €3.7bn.

But the world's third-largest auto manufacturer behind Toyota and General Motors indicated that earnings had been squeezed in the third quarter, the current quarter was proving difficult and 2009 would be "very tough".

The group is at the centre of a storm over volatile trading in its shares after Porsche, which wants to take it over, said it had amassed a controlling stake of 74.1% and aimed for a "domination agreement" or 75% holding next year.

Hans Dieter Pötsch, VW's chief financial officer, threw a spanner in Porsche's works, however, by suggesting that its plans could be derailed by a prolonged court battle.

The European commission is poised to take Germany back to the European Court of Justice over its refusal to remove a 20% blocking minority vote enjoyed by the federal state of Lower Saxony under the 1960 "VW Law".

The ECJ banned this law just over a year ago but Berlin's revised version retains this effective veto on key decisions for the state.

Pötsch refused to comment on VW's stance, saying this was an issue for its supervisory board, but said VW itself had played no role in the recent frenzied trading, selling none of its "put" options.

Today's figures sent VW's stock up 13% in late-afternoon trading to €585, compared with a all-time high of €1,005 on Tuesday and a close of €517 yesterday.

VW is now valued at around €174bn, more than all its European peers combined, which have begun announcing temporary shutdowns of plants and lay-offs to cope with depressed sales and earnings. Pötsch said VW could prolong Christmas/New year holidays by a few days to cope with slackening demand.

He said turnover rose by 5.5% in the period to €85.4bn, with deliveries up 4% to 4.8m worldwide – raising VW's global market share to 10.1% from 9.6%. The group hopes to further increase its share in a worldwide market which is set to decline in 2009.

Pötsch said: "We are confirming our forecast for 2008 despite the dramatic deterioration in global economic conditions and the automotive industry environment in recent months." He added: "We are confident we will be able to beat the total market performance as we have done this year."

German truck- and bus-maker MAN, meanwhile, reported operating earnings up a third at €422m.