“We are very proud of our achievement last year. Despite an overall decline of the automotive business in Indonesia, we were able to build our sales by 19 percent during 2009 and increased our market share to 68.8 percent in the premium segment,” CEO Rudi Borgenheimer said in a release.

In total, Mercedes-Benz sold  2,884 cars in 2009, compared to 2,424 in the previous year.

The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) has estimated that sales of premium cars will hit between 4,300 and 4,500 cars this year.

The overall premium car segment  — which includes BMW, Lexus, Audi, Jaguar and Volvo — grew  from 3,598 in 2008 to 4,190 sales last year.

BMW Indonesia reported that its sales last year increased by 25 percent to 901 cars, compared to 720 a year earlier.

For Indonesia, Mercedes-Benz still relies on locally assembled models for the C, E and S classes.

“I am delighted that we have now overtaken BMW for the first time in the SUV segment with our M-Class and we were very successful with our brand shapers. Forty eight customers, mostly women, have decided to go for our new generation SLK,” Borgenheimer said.

“I am optimistic that we will be able to continue our success in 2010 with our new generation S-Class,  E-Class and E-Class coupe cars and the environmental friendly engine with lower fuel consumption for our C-Class,” he added.

The German carmaker delivered a total of 1,012,300 vehicles to customers worldwide last year. The figure is a 9.7 percent drop from 2008’s figure of 1,121,700.

Mercedes-Benz will offer new products this year, starting with the new E-Class convertible. The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is also expected to hit the market in the first quarter.

“We are superbly positioned this year with a range of attractive and competitive products,” Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler AG  Board of Management/Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said in a statemen.

“We will especially benefit right away from the fact that the entire E-Class family will be available.

Increases in the growth markets, above all in China, will also have a positive impact on our sales.

“We therefore expect sales to be slightly higher in 2010 than last year and that we will successfully defend our position against the competition,” Zetsche added.

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