Bentley posts big sales jump for 2011

Luxury-car maker Bentley says 2011 was a banner year, with global sales of 7,003 cars, up 37 percent from the year before.

Bentley capped the year with a strong December, selling 1,059 cars--the second-best month for sales in its history. Sales in December were up 69 percent from the same month a year earlier.

U.S. sales for Bentley totaled 2,021 units in 2011, up 32 percent from 2010, maintaining the United States as Bentley's top market. China is now the No. 2 market for Bentley, with 1,839 sales in 2011.

More than one-third of Bentley's 2011 sales, 2,404 units, were of the Continental GT. December's sales numbers were boosted by the arrival of the Continental GTC convertible, which Autoweek said "delivers the same fabulous combination of high style, unmistakable presence, good response and smooth, stable velocity that it always has. Only more so."

By Julie Alvin