Volkswagen will be profitable in 2009 despite a severe crisis in the global auto industry, the top labor leader of VW and Porsche Automobil Holding SE told Reuters on Friday.

"I expect that Volkswagen will end 2009 with a profit. We can also earn money with small cars," Bernd Osterloh said.

According to StarMine, which weighs analysts’ forecasts according to their track record, the consensus estimates 2009 operating profit at VW at 3.5 billion euros while net income should come in at 1.95 billion for the current year.