London: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reported record car sales in 2012 as demand for its traditional luxury vehicles held up among wealthy Americans and Chinese, although its growth rate slowed down significantly from the previous two years. Rolls, owned by German carmaker BMW, said on Thursday that car sales rose 1 per cent to 3,575 in 2012 from 3,538 cars a year earlier. It was the company’s third consecutive year of record sales, but the growth rate was well below the 31 per cent and 150 per cent growth delivered in 2011 and 2010 respectively. “We had an outstanding year in spite of the challenges we faced, and Rolls-Royce now leads the ultra luxury market by some considerable margin,” chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said.