Stuttgart: Mercedes-Benz said Monday it sold around 2.3 million vehicles in 2017, an increase of nearly 10 per cent on unit sales in 2016 that made the year the best in its history.

The company said it continued to be the No.1 luxury-car maker for the second consecutive year, with strong sales in the three core regions of Europe, Asia-Pacific and NAFTA, while China gave it the largest growth.

In India, sales were up nearly 16 per cent on the previous year to 15,330 units. Mercedes-Benz said it continued to be the volume leader in India’s luxury segment for the third consecutive year.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said the company had done better than prior-year unit sales for the seventh time in succession.

“With Mercedes-Benz, our core brand, we were the best-selling premium brand once again in 2017,” Zetsche was quoted as saying.

The company said the latest quarter was also its best fourth-quarter in its history, with sales of 572,044 units, a growth of 4.8 per cent on the figure for the same quarter of 2016.

Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing & sales, said the company will launch more than a dozen new models in 2018.

The company said Asia-Pacific continued to be the region with the strongest growth once again, as it sold 875,250 Mercedes-Benz cars in 2017, more than ever before in one year.

China was once again the company’s biggest sales market, not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but also worldwide: 587,868 Mercedes-Benz automobiles were handed over to customers there last year, or an increase of nearly 26 per cent.

Mercedes-Benz also reported its highest ever unit sales in other markets in the region such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, India, Thailand and Malaysia.