For Mercedes, it marks the fourth year of record sales in a row, thanks to demand for its expanded range of compact cars including the CLA coupe, the GLA compact sports utility vehicle, as well as the new C-Class and S-Class limousines.

The Mercedes-Benz brand posted record deliveries in every month of 2014, the company said. Sales of its compact vehicle range grew by 25 percent to 463,152 vehicles of the A-, B-, CLA- and GLA-Class.

Sales of Smart-branded cars fell 11 percent as an old model was phased out.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; editing by Thomas Atkins)