(Yicai Global) Feb. 2 -- Thanks to the strong performance of the Chinese market, Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz's operating revenue rose 7 percent year-on-year to EUR164.3 billion (USD205.2 billion) and its net profit grew 24 percent annually to EUR10.9 billion last year.

The group sold 3.27 million vehicles last year, an increase of 9 percent from 2016, the German carmaker said in its annual report yesterday. Specifically, sales volume of Mercedes-Benz and sub-brand Smart added up to 2.42 million vehicles, recording an annual growth of 9.9 percent. The Chinese market, the only single market in the world that has contributed a sales volume of more than 600,000 vehicles, grew 25 percent from a year ago.

Daimler AG mainly benefited from the success of its Benz E-Class and SUV models last year, which is closely related to the performance of the Chinese market, said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of Daimler AG and president of Mercedes-Benz. This year, the company plans to release 12 new models involving E-Class, C-Class and A-Class, he revealed.

In the field of new energy vehicles, Daimler is building a battery plant and it will pump another EUR10 billion into the R & D of NEVs in the future, planning to introduce more than 50 of them by 2022. However, Dieter Zetsche said the company's current core business is still the fuel vehicles, because only under the premise that fuel vehicles make profits, will the company be able to invest in future R & D.

Last year, Daimler's total investment amounted to EUR15.4 billion, including fixed-asset investment of EUR6.7 billion and R & D investment of EUR8.7 billion. This year, the figure will rise to EUR16.3 billion, of which investment in fixed assets will increase by EUR700 million and that in R & D will increase by EUR200 million.