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Carmaker VW has announced an increase in annual sales in the US and Western Europe, despite a major scandal in which it admitted fitting software to its vehicles to cheat emissions tests.

It delivered 9.93 million vehicles worldwide in 2015.

In North America, there was annual growth of 4.4%, with the US accounting for the lion's share.

In Western Europe, 3.43 million customers bought a new VW vehicle, up 4.8% on 2014.

Matthias Muller, chief executive of VW, said: "Delivering almost 10 million vehicles is an excellent result, particularly in view of the continued challenging market situation in some regions, as well as the diesel issue in the final quarter of last year."

Sales in Russia and Brazil were both down.

The company said that "tense" conditions in Russia, which saw a 36.8% drop, continued to have an effect on deliveries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Brazil saw a 38.1% fall in sales.

Both Bric countries have been hit by low commodity prices, a slowdown in the world economy and volatile currencies.

"While developments in the markets of Brazil and Russia had a noticeable impact on deliveries by our brands, we made advances in Europe." Mr Muller added.

German consumers remained loyal, with a 4% increase. Growth was also strong in Spain and Italy.