BERLIN - German car producer BMW Group is the most profitable automaker worldwide despite scandals, a study shows on Tuesday.

Despite being at the heart of scandals surrounding diesel engine emissions and recent allegations of illegal collusion among German automotive firms, BMW had a profit of about 5.58 billion euros ($6.6 billion) on a revenue of 49.25 billion euros in the first half of the year.

According to the study of the accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY), BMW is then followed by Suzuki, Daimler, GM and Volkswagen.

"The profit situation has once again significantly improved compared to the previous year. The margins are now again above average in all three companies," EY auto expert Peter Fuss was cited by German news agency dpa.

In addition, the study shows that the three German automakers rely to large extent on sales in China, as every third new car were sold in the Chinese market. The highest rate was VW with 37 percent in the second quarter.