LONDON — 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 today that it sold 2,711 cars in 2010, up 171 percent over the previous year.

The United States remains the No. 1 market for the cars, which sell for $310,000 or more. But the Asia-Pacific was the best regional market as Rolls-Royce reported strong sales gains in China, Japan and South Korea.

The 2010 sales were still short of the company’s record of 3,357 cars in 1978.