NEW YORK — Bloomberg News has reported that BMW's ultra-luxury brand Rolls-Royce sold out of its commemorative Year of the Dragon Phantom. The $1.2 million special edition Phantom, which the London-based automaker introduced to lure more buyers in China, included a gold hand-painted dragon on the side of each wheelbase, a dragon embroidered on headrests, and hand-stitched cushions for rear passengers.Rolls-Royce began taking orders for the vehicle in August and sold out within two months, said Hal Serudin, a Singapore-based company spokesman.

"Chinese customers want highly bespoke cars with features such as drink cabinets and embroidery," Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said.

Rolls-Royce currently has 14 dealerships in Greater China, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and plans to add fewer than 10 dealers to the region. "I'm optimistic that we will see growth in the Greater Chinese market," Mueller-Oetvoes said. “It might not be as explosive as it was a couple of years before, but I’m very confident.”

A Boston Consulting Group survey from last year found that the millionaire households in China jumped 31% in 2010 to 1.11 million, ranking it third behind the U.S. and Japan. China overtook the U.S. to become Rolls-Royce's biggest market for the first time in 2011, three years ahead of a target the company set last February.

Source: Bloomberg News