Daimler doubled its first-quarter profit as its expanded compact car range and responded to increasing demand from China and the US.

Group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) from ongoing business rose to 2.07 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in the three months ended March, up from 949 million euros in the year-earlier period, Daimler said.

Profitability at Mercedes’ car division has improved as a range of new models including the A and B class, GLA and CLA compacts as well as its flagship S class arrived in showrooms, more than doubling the division’s return on sales from ongoing operations to 7 percent in the quarter, up from 3.3 percent in same quarter last year. Daimler said it aimed to increase that to 10 percent in the medium term.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said: “As the year progresses, we will continue working systematically on our profitable growth path.”

The seven percent profit margin was, however, narrower than some analysts forecast and trailed the 10.1 percent at Audi.

“Margins were a little weaker than expected due to higher top-line growth” and because of costs to roll out the revamped C-class sedan and the GLA compact SUV,” Mike Dean, an analyst with Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients.

He expected Mercedes to post a 7.5 percent margin, the same forecast as Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Mercedes increased deliveries in the first quarter at a faster pace than BMW and Audi, as the Daimler unit shows progress in its effort to regain the top spot in global luxury-car sales.

The growth push involves rolling out 30 Mercedes models by the end of the decade, including a dozen all-new vehicles.