The car maker Rolls Royce recorded its best-ever sales figures last year, signalling that the recession has done nothing to blunt the appetite for luxury among the world's wealthiest drivers.
For the first time, China emerged as the company's biggest customer, edging past the United States and Britain.
Rolls Royce said it sold more than three-and-a-half thousand cars last year - that's more than a third up on the year before.
Founded in Britain more than a century ago, the company is now owned by BMW of Germany.
The chief executive of Rolls Royce Motor Cars, Torsten Muller-Otvos, said there was no sign of recession at the top end of the car market.
He described it as a crisis that affected countries rather than well-run businesses.
"Many of our customers have been very successful in their particular business, and for that reason they have rewarded themselves with a nice reward for achieving certain targets that they have set themselves," he said.
Muller-Otvos said the surge in demand in China was more than simply a reflection of the swing in economic fortunes from west to east. He said the Chinese enjoy individuality, and noted that every Rolls Royce is custom-made - hence the popularity of dragon motifs at the company's design plant.
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