ASIDE from their luxurious finish and refined ride, Rolls-Royce motor cars are best known for their effortless acceleration. Sales figures released by the company on January 10th are a good example. Last year 2,711 rolled off forecourts compared with 1,002 the year before—more than double the previous high (in 2008) since BMW took over the British-based firm seven years ago.

Rolls's launch of a new “entry level” model at the end of 2009 is part of the explanation. The Ghost shares the butch looks, huge engine and imposing presence of its big brother, the Phantom, but is a snip by comparison. The new “baby” Rolls starts at a little over £200,000 ($312,000); plutocrats must pay a half as much again for a Phantom.

The new model has attracted a new set of wealthy motorists: four-fifths of Ghost buyers have never owned the marque before. One in ten Ghosts are sold to women, who have hitherto steered clear of the brand. Perhaps most important, from Beijing to Bangalore the new Asian rich are snapping them up.

Growth in America, still the company's biggest market, was buoyant, but easily outpaced in China. Sales in that country, now Rolls's second-biggest market, surged by 600% and in India by 400% (overall, 90% of the firm's output is destined for foreign tarmac). Torsten Müller-Öströs, Rolls's boss, points to a desire to share in the British “genes and heritage” that the opulent wood and leather interiors epitomise—even if the engines, other parts and much of the technology come from Germany.

Where Rolls-Royce is leading, other British luxury carmakers seem to be following. In 2010 Bentley's global sales grew by a respectable 11%, to more than 5,000 cars. Bentley (owned by Volkswagen) also relies on exports: 80% of its vehicles go abroad. Again, Americans buy more than anyone else, but China, where sales grew by 87% last year, has rapidly become its second-largest market.

The Kuwaiti consortium that owns Midlands-based Aston Martin, which makes sportier and cheaper cars—at least compared with Bentley and Rolls—also expects business to pick up. It plans to raise hundreds of millions of pounds to expand production; last year it opened a huge showroom in Beijing. Aston is rumoured to be in talks with Daimler to take over design and production of the German firm's Maybach luxury cars, rivals to Rolls and Bentley in price, if not in style and sales.

Daimler might well have concluded that, after acquiring Rolls and Bentley respectively, BMW and Volkswagen were right not to shift production to Germany. The key to success in the luxury-car market seems to be to combine a reliable German motor and a lustrous British veneer.