Foreign carmakers made relatively small donations to social causes despite massive improvements in financial figures, data showed Wednesday.

According to regulatory filings from the country’s top three foreign carmakers ― BMW Korea, Mercedes-Benz Korea and Audi Volkswagen Korea ― their sales and profits saw significant improvements from 2009.

BMW Korea was the top-performing foreign carmaker last year by sales, followed by Mercedes-Benz Korea. Volkswagen was the third best-selling imported brand.

BMW Korea posted sales of 1.09 trillion won ($1 billion), up nearly 60 percent from a year ago. The company’s operating profits rose to 142 billion won from the 23 billion won operating loss recorded in 2009. Over the same period, BMW Korea’s net profits more than tripled from 14.5 billion won to nearly 48 billion won.

With sales rising 66.8 percent compared to the previous year, Mercedes-Benz Korea posted 1.13 trillion won in sales last year.

The company’s operating and net profits increased respectively by 21 percent and 14.7 percent over the same period.

Audi Volkswagen Korea’s sales increased 39 percent to about 793 billion won. The company’s operating profits increased by 60 percent, while its net profits went from 581 million won in 2009 to 25 billion won in 2010.

However, with the exception of BMW Korea, their donations were frozen or cut from levels seen in the previous year.

BMW Korea, whose net profits more than tripled from 14.5 billion won in 2009 to nearly 48 billion won last year, donated about 886 million won to a variety of causes in 2010. In the previous year, the company had donated 105 million won.

In contrast, Audi Volkswagen Korea cut its donations by 34 percent, while Mercedes-Benz Korea raised its by 1.2 percent.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)