Latest News
2026 Chevrolet Tahoe ReviewThe Most Expensive Cars in the World
Bespoke luxury cars, spaceship-like hypercars, and legendary racecars sit atop an automotive Olympus as the most expensive cars in the world.
Richest of the Rich
People are fascinated by superlatives. The fastest, strongest, winningest, the most expensive. Whether it’s legendary athletic feats or opulent hotels, to be the absolute best in the world is to hold a special and singular place in our collective imaginations. Perfection might be an impossibility but being the unquestioned pinnacle is an achievable close second.
The most expensive cars, as you’d imagine, are breathtaking in that some are stunningly beautiful, others are hen’s tooth-rare, and not a few are brain-meltingly fast. When it comes to modern production cars, it takes a lot of exquisite engineering and obsessive levels of craftmanship to create (and to justify the price tags of) the world’s most expensive examples. For collectors’ cars, it takes a combination of care, historically significant provenance, and a lot of other rich guys all wanting the same thing to elevate an exceptional car to the world’s most expensive.
Below we look at both the most expensive modern-day production cars and the most expensive collectors’ cars to ever sell at auction.
Modern Production Cars
Rolls-Royce Droptail, Boattail, & Sweptail
For those seeking the outlandishly extravagant there is no substitute for a Rolls-Royce. But there are those for whom even a run-of-the-mill Cullinan (if there could ever be such a thing) is not enough. To reach Everest-levels of rarified air you ring up Rolls-Royce and tell them you want something special. This was the idea behind Rolls-Royce’s move into bespoke coach-built cars. The earliest of these was the Rolls-Royce Sweptail, a one-of-one build (based off the Phantom Coupe) that cost, back in 2017, over $10 million. From there, these custom Rolls have gotten ever more expensive.
The Rolls-Royce Boattail is rumored to have cost $28 million. With 1,813 bespoke parts, this car is a far cry from the Phantom it’s based on. Wooden butterfly rear deck folds open to reveal the ultimate in luxury picnicking: a parasol, a set of custom dishes and silver, cocktail tables, and folding stools. Of course, there’s an on-board fridge for caviar and a chiller for champagne.
The new Rolls-Royce Droptail surpasses even the ethereal Boattail. Three of a planned four cars have been built, each designed in collaboration with the commissioning buyer to best express their unique sense of luxury. The Arcadia Droptail emphasizes the car’s aeronautical inspirations with a Chris Craft-like rear deck. This “shawl panel” is created from Santos Straight Grain wood and preserved in a specially created lifetime lacquer that Rolls-Royces says required 8,000 hours of development and another 1,000 hours of testing to perfect. The Amethyst Droptail uses that purple birthstone as its theme while the La Rose Noire takes its cues from the Black Barraca Rose.
Though Rolls-Royce won’t specify an exact number (if you have to ask…), it’s estimated the Droptail cars cost somewhere in excess of $30 million dollars apiece.
Bugatti Le Voiture Noire & More
The combination of racing and design heritage has made Bugatti among the most prestigious names in automobiles. The modern-day Bugatti hypercars have earned their reputation as the world’s best cars based on world speed records (with sky-high price tags to match). Bugatti’s long goodbye to their W16 engine has seen a handful of special edition cars that have taken their already astronomical asking prices to new heights.
The most expensive of these was the one-of-one Bugatti La Voiture Noire at $13.4 million. The La Voiture Noire was built given a longer wheelbase than the standard Chiron and styled after the famed Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic of the same name (vintage Bugatti are themselves among the most expensive collector’s cars). The Bugatti Centodieci, ringing up to $9 million, is a ten-car production run honoring both the EB110 in its exterior design and the marques 110th anniversary. The Bugatti Mistral, a “paltry” $5 million, is a roadster built from the Chiron but given its own unique exterior design. The Mistral is scheduled to be the last Bugatti to feature the 1,578-horsepower quad-turbo W16 engine. And finally, at $4.8 million is the Bugatti Bolide, a track-only variant of the Chiron of which only 40 examples will be completed. The Bolide features some of the wildest aero with giant front and rear spoilers providing up to 5,800 lbs. of downforce.
Pagani Huayra Codalunga
Bugatti isn’t the only hypercar maker for those with black credit cards. To finalize the Huaryra’s run, Pagani created the Huayra Codalunga and priced it at $7 million dollars. Just five cars were created for this farewell edition, each running an AMG-sourced 6.0L twin-turbo V12 tuned to 840 horsepower.
Aspark Owl
Though it’s still in prototype stage, the Japanese electric hypercar the Aspark Owl will reportedly command a $4.2 million dollar price tag. Four electric motors, one positioned at each wheel, allow the Owl to boast an astonishing 1,985 horsepower. Aspark says the Owl will, once completed, be the fastest production car in the world with a zero to sixty time of 1.73 seconds (it’s practically time travel at this point). This past June, Aspark achieved an unofficial top speed record for an EV, hitting 272.6 mph, eclipsing the Rimac Nevera’s 258 mph.
Collector’s Cars
1955 Mercedes-Benz “Uhlenhaut Coupe” 300 SLR
To become the most prized of collector’s cars, a vehicle needs a sterling pedigree, historical significance, and the utmost rarity. The “Uhlenhaut Coupe” has all three and the record for the highest price ever paid for a car at auction: $148 million dollars.
This isn’t just any Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, the Uhlenhaut Coupe, designed by engineer Rudolph Uhlenhaut, is one of two cars built as hybrids melding the 300 SLR race car and the 300 SL street-going car. The cars had been intended to race in the Carrera Panamericana, prior to that race’s cancellation. The Uhlenhaut Coupe would have been the fastest production car in the world, besting the 300SL for that honor, as it hit a top speed of 180 mph.
Mercedes-Benz kept both cars for decades before putting one up for auction. That car had just 3,756 original miles on it. The astronomical price may have something to do with where the money was going, to Mercedes’ scholarship fund for students studying future sustainability. Whatever the reason, the Uhlenhaut Coupe set a record that’s unlikely to be beaten any time soon.
1962 Ferrari 250 GTOs
The next three most expensive collector’s cars ever are all the same, Ferrari 250 GTOs. This legendary Ferrari racecar, of which just 36 were constructed, hails from 1962. Dedicated to GT racing, the 205 GTO was powered by Ferrari’s signature Colombo V12 and has been alternately called the greatest Ferrari of all time, the greatest racecar of all time, and the greatest collector’s car of all time. While you can quibble about the first two, the last one might have the strongest argument (or it did prior to the Uhlenhaut Coupe’s auction).
The most expensive of these is a 1962 Ferrari 330 LM/250 GTO, one of just two 250 GTOs raced by Scuderia Ferrari itself. The car took both a class win and 2nd overall at the 1962 Nürburgring 1000. It sold for $51.7 million dollars. The next most expensive was another Ferrari 250 GTO, this one the third car built and retains 95 percent of its original parts. It sold for $48.4 million. A third Ferrari 250 GTO, this one a Berlinetta that won the 1963 FIA GT Championship, cost its current owner $38.1 million for the honor of purchasing it.
1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti
At a not-so-distant fifth place is a 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti. This Ferrari racecar took second at the Millie Miglia, raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won Ferrari the Constructor’s World Championship in 1957. The rare and fair Ferrari sold for $35.7 million.
