Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz was the best-selling premium car brand in 2019, edging past Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's namesake brand and Volkswagen AG's Audi AG unit.

Daimler reported Jan. 9 that it delivered 2,339,562 Mercedes-Benz cars worldwide, up 1.3% year over year.

China remained the largest market for the brand, followed by Germany and the U.S. Mercedes-Benz delivered a record 693,443 units in China, an increase of 6.2% from 2018. The growth was attributed to the launch of new and revised models, including compact cars and SUVs.

The BMW brand reported a 2% increase in annual deliveries to 2,168,516 vehicles. Sales for the BMW group, which also includes the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, rose 1.2% year over year to 2,520,307 vehicles.

Volkswagen-owned Audi said annual deliveries rose 1.8% to about 1,845,550 units.

The company posted an increase across its three major markets. China deliveries totaled 690,083 vehicles, marking a 4.1% year-over-year increase. Deliveries rose 4.3% in Germany and 0.4% in the U.S.

Audi said sales in its compact SUV segment, which includes Audi e-tron and Audi Q8 models, rose 46.2% year over year.