Some 107,800 BMW 5 Series sedans were sold last year, about a third of the automaker's total in the country, becoming the first BMW model to break through the 100,000-unit benchmark.

Mercedes-Benz, the third-largest premium carmaker in sales, tallied 206,150 units in China last year, also a record high. But its annual growth rate was just 4 percent, far lower than its rivals, mainly due to difficulties in its sales channels.

That hurdle is expected to be cleared with a new joint venture at its partnership with Beijing Automotive formed in December to unify sales management for both imported and locally produced products.

China's luxury car sales increased about 18 percent to 1.2 million units last year. German companies together accounted for three-quarters of the total.

While German luxury brands continued their scorching pace, Lexus - once an up-and-coming contender - failed to meet its sales goal last year, partly due to fallout over the Diaoyu Islands dispute with Japan.

At the beginning of 2012, the luxury unit of Toyota vowed to push sales to 80,000 units with an array of new models. But it finished the year with 64,000 units sold.

Analysts said the brand's lack of local production meant it missed the high-growth period in China's luxury car market and also missed the opportunity to enter the "top echelon" of premium brands in the country.

Jaguar Land Rover took fourth place. With solely imports, the British carmaker sold more than 73,000 vehicles in China last year. But the distance to the top three remained big.