Rolls-Royce reveals record sales
* Best sales figures in company's history
* Ghost model drives sales
Rolls-Royce has recorded record sales for 2011 selling more than 3500 cars.
Sales for the luxury limousine jumped by 31% compared with 2010 figures.
Sales have been driven by the Ghost model, which costs from 165,000. It is smaller and more efficient than the company's Phantom cars that are priced from 285,000.
Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Muller-Otvos said 2011 had been an 'outstanding year'.
It was a good year elsewhere in the luxury car segment, with Rolls-Royce's key rival Bentley reporting a 37% rise in sales. The Volkswagen Group-owned car maker sold 7003 cars.
Rolls-Royce's sales figures were the best in the company's 107-year history. Sales for 2011 beat the previous high of 3347 vehicles sold in 1978.
The Ghost model has been central to the car maker's flourishing fortunes, because the smaller, less ostentatious and cheaper alternative to Phantom models has proved popular with younger and female buyers.
Exports also boosted Rolls-Royce's figures, with particularly strong growth in sales to Germany and Russia. Sales to the Asia Pacific region increased by 47%, while the number of cars shipped to the Middle East rose by 23%. UK registrations grew by 30%.
