Earnings reached 1.18 billion euros ($1.7 billion), up from 612 million euros in the same quarter last year, the company said.

Revenue rose 15 percent to 24.7 billion euros.

Earnings were up across the company’s divisions, but most of the increase came from the mainstay Mercedes brand. Unit sales of its luxury cars and SUVs in China jumped by 82 percent, while Western Europe and the US — still far bigger markets for Daimler — saw 4 percent increases.

Mercedes operating earnings rose 60 percent to 1.288 billion euros from a year ago, the bulk of the company’s 2.03 billion euros in earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT.

The figure omits financial items but is used as a yardstick by the company and analysts.

The company sold 15 percent more cars and commercial vehicles than last year, at 461,700.

Daimler’s performance follows strong earnings in recent days from other automakers, who are benefiting from rising demand in emerging markets such as China and India, and from a continuing recovery in the US.

Demand is weaker in Western Europe, where Germany is booming but several other countries are suffering from debt crises, troubled government finances and flat growth.

Ford Motor Co. had its best first quarter in 13 years with $2.6 billion profit, while Volkswagen earned 1.7 billion euros and handily beat market expectations on stronger sales in China, India, Mexico and Argentina.

One risk factor for the industry was mentioned by Daimler in Friday’s report: rising costs of raw materials, which the company said had had a negative effect on earnings. The issue was also cited by Ford CFO Lewis Booth.

For now, a strengthening if uneven global economy continues to boost Daimler and the industry. Daimler’s truck division showed a big improvement, raising operating earnings to 415 million euros from 130 million euros in the same quarter a year earlier.

The division’s products, including US-made Freightliner, represent big-ticket investment decisions by logistics and delivery companies and are therefore sensitive to the ups and downs of the economy.

“We achieved excellent earnings in the first quarter,” CEO Dieter Zetsche said in a statement.

“This puts us well ahead of our planning and confirms our positive outlook for 2011.”

The company said it took one-time charges to reflect the disruption from Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster, writing down 49 million euros at Daimler Truck — whose Mitsubishi Fuso unit is based in Japan — and 29 million euros at Daimler Financial Services.

Analyst Max Warburton at Sanford C. Bernstein said that the results “only met expectations, unlike this week’s dramatic VW beat” in part due to one-time charges.

Warburton said however that the truck group’s performance showed that cost-cutting had lifted profit margins ahead of expectations to 7.4 percent.

“We believe the truck lift-off that we’ve been anticipating is now under way.”