2010 was overall a very good year for Volkswagen, but it could have been even better if some of the other brands they own also made a profit.

While Volkswagen had the most successful year in its history, selling 7.2-million units globally and making 7.1-billion Euros along the way, its brands such Bentley, Seat and Lamborghini lost a whole bunch of money last year.

Their British luxury brand Bentley lost 245-million Euros, despite a sales increase of 11% over 2009. Development costs for new models is part of the reason for its poor financial standing.

Their Spanish family car brand Seat had also underperformed. While sales were up 0.8% over 2009, their operational loss amounted to 311-million Euros.

Their Italian supercar brand Lamborghini has been hit very hard due to poor economic conditions worldwide, and while an exact figure is unknown, their sales were down by 14%.  This resulted in a decline in revenue by 10-million Euros.

Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn however is still upbeat and feels things will turn around. How many of these brands will be in the black this year remains to be seen.

[Source: Automotive News]

Toyota’s recent recall issues may cost the company an estimated $2 billion.

Along with the company’s third quarter report, Toyota estimated the costs of the global recall at 180 billion yen (US$2 billion), including 100 billion yen (US$1.1 billion) for repair costs and another 70-80 billion yen ($787-899 million) in lost sales. Toyota predicts a reduction of 100,000 vehicle sales as its recent troubles erode public confidence in the brand.

To make matters worse, these figures don’t include the costs of the just-announced Prius recall.

See more Toyota recall news at the AutoGuide.com Toyota Recall News Hub.

[Source: The Associated Press via Wheels.ca]

Finally some good news for Toyota. At least, for the time being.

Toyota announced a profit of 153.2 billion yen (US$1.7 billion) in the third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009. That’s an increase from the 164.7 billion yen (US$1.8 billion) loss over the same quarter in 2008.

Vehicle sales reached 2.07 million units over the quarter, an increase of 227,000 units from 2008.

Toyota won’t be celebrating those positive results too much however as they don’t include the expected fallout from the recent recall and the sales stoppage of some of Toyota’s top models. We’re going to go out on a limb here and say Toyota’s fourth quarter results won’t be as rosy.

See more Toyota recall news at the AutoGuide.com Toyota Recall News Hub.