It isn’t just the major automakers churning out record sales figures for 2013; today, Mercedes-Benz tuner AMG announced that it sold a record 32,000 vehicles in the past year, up from roughly 24,500 sold in 2012. The gains were brought about by new compact offerings as well as the availability of all-wheel drive on more models.

“We are looking back on the company’s strongest year ever,” AMG boss Tobias Moers said in a statement. “This extraordinary growth has exceeded even our own expectations.”

Moers is right as AMG as recently as a year ago was forecasting annual sales of 30,000 units by only 2017. It’s clear the company underestimated the popularity of new products, like, for example, the CLA45 AMG, which was voted Motor Authority’s Best Car To Buy 2014 along with the Porsche Cayman.

Availability of all-wheel drive also proved a hit: around 90 percent of E63 AMGs sold in 2013 were fitted with 4MATIC technology.

Key markets for AMG were the U.S., the U.K, and Germany, with sales for each during the past year up 20 percent, 40 percent and 10 percent on the previous year, respectively.

With a new GLA45 AMG hitting showrooms later this year and other models such as the CLA45 AMG and new S-Class AMG variants set to record full-year results this year, 2014 is shaping up to be an even better year for AMG. Oh, and there will also be a new sports car to replace the SLS AMG, which bows out of the market this year and managed to rack up over 10,000 sales since its introduction in 2010. The new sports car, rumored to be called an AMG GT, has been confirmed for launch later this year.

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