Rolls Royce car sales grew by 171%

The rich got rolling last year, pushing Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to its highest sales figures since BMW took over the company seven years ago.

The luxury automaker said Monday that it sold 2,711 cars in 2010, up 171 percent over the previous year.

The United States remained the No. 1 market for the cars, which sell for 200,000 pounds ($310,000) or more. China ranked as the company's second-largest market, followed by Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

The 2010 sales were still short of the company's all-time record of 3,357 cars in 1978.