This is the first time the US is surpassed on the list. The Rolls-Royce Index is considered as a reliable gauge of a country's excess wealth, especially with the most basic Rolls model costing at least $245,000. 

The majority of the buyers in China are heirs and heiresses and not self-made millionaires, reports said. 

"Our customers are super-rich, second-generation young people who have inherited money or whose parents buy them cars. Chinese parents love their kids and will buy them whatever they like," Wilson Ho of Sparkle Rolls, the dealership and luxury group, told The Wall Street Journal. 

To celebrate the new year, Rolls is preparing to launch "Year of the Dragon" limited edition models that feature hand-embroidered versions of mythical creatures on the leather headrests. These cars are likely to be sold at $1.6 million.

"People are more extroverted. They have no problem showing off their wealth," Klaus Paur, an auto industry analyst in China, told the Los Angeles Times. 

Third on the top five list for 2010 is the UK, followed by the UAE and then Japan. For that year, Rolls-Royce recorded the sale of 2,711 cars worldwide. The company is set to release 2011 figures in 9 January.