Specific manufacturers have perfected the art of manufacturing high-end hypercars and luxury automobiles. These top dogs include Ferrari, Koenigsegg, Bugatti, Lamborghini, among others. Due to their expertise in this field, they extend to their wealthiest clientele the prettiest, fastest, rarest, and most expensive cars when new. This list excludes the most expensive cars sold at auctions, as some of those are in a league of their own. An example is the Ferrari 250 GTO — its auction price is multiple times what vehicles in this list go for brand new.
Do the most expensive cars in the world offer value for money? Well, most of them don’t seem to, especially to regular car buyers. But for the rich, there are reasons for splashing all that cash. Some are looking for prestige, comfort, exclusivity, while others use the car as a form of investment. For the latter, the fact that the most expensive cars have limited-production numbers makes them extremely rare, which ultimately means their prices can skyrocket within a short time. That's what happened with the Lamborghini Veneno which is now worth $8 Million. In addition, these cars also share a little piece of history about their respective companies, which the buyer may be a fan of. Buyers who spend their fortune on these cars are car collectors who already have other classic collections from the same automaker in their yards.
For whichever reason one would spend more than $3 million on a car, let’s dive deeper into the 10 most expensive cars ever made.
10 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport ($3.9 Million)
It takes a keen eye to differentiate between the Chiron and the Chiron Super Sport 300+. The latter broke the World Record as the first hypercar to exceed the 300 mph threshold. Behind the wheel was Andy Wallace, a Le Man's winner, and the company’s official test driver.
The Chiron Super Sport 300+ will be limited to only 30 units, with their top-speed limited to 277mph — delivery is set to kickstart in early 2022. The new rear design stands out in this car, set to turn heads when it hits the road. Powering it is an 8.0-liter W16 engine delivering 1600hp, beating the Chiron by having 100hp more.
9 Lamborghini Veneno ($4.0 Million)
Unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, the Lamborghini Veneno was developed to commemorate Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary. It’s a limited production car based on the Aventador. When it came out, the Veneno was retailing at $4 million.
Lamborghini Veneno’s engine is a more powerful iteration of that in the Avendor — a 6.5-liter V12 engine generating 740hp and 509lb-ft of torque. This power boost can be accredited to the car’s enlarged air intake and modified exhaust system. The car accelerates to 60mph in 2.9 seconds and achieves a top speed of 221mph.
8 Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita ($4.8 Million)
“Trevita” is a Swedish name for “three whites,” which is in reference to the car’s diamond-weave and a carbon-fiber body. The Trevita is a special edition version of the CCXR, sharing the same twin-supercharged 4.8-liter V8 engine. It delivers 1,080 ponies and 796lb-ft of torque via the Trevita’s Xtrac 6-speed paddle-shift transmission.
The Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita accelerates from 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 250mph. For a car developed in 2015, it’s still impressive even by today’s standards. Only two units were made, with one being entrusted to Floyd Mayweather, boxer and a renowned car collector. He later auctioned it off in 2017 for $2.6 million. It still beats logic why he sold it for such a terrific resale value when car collectors were drooling for the only road-legal Trevita in the USA.
7 Pagani Huayra Imola ($5.4 Million)
This latest model from Pagani combines enormous power and extremely light curb weight, making it a menace on the track. Pagani went the extra step of using special paint on the car to shed off 11 pounds. The Pagani Huayra Imola was developed and fine-tuned at theImola circuit, Bologna, hence its name.
This hypercar draws its power from a Mercedez-Benz AMG 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine tuned to deliver 827hp to its rear wheels. Dedicated entirely to speed, Pagani had racing in mind while developing this unit. Only five units were produced. All the customers were involved in developing the Pagani Huayra Imola, a blueprint Pagani borrowed from Ferrari's XX program.
6 Bugatti Divo ($5.9 Million)
While Bugatti has produced marquees that dominate the straight-line speed, the Bugatti Divo hypercar is built for corners. It is fitted with an elongated aerodynamic body and an aggressive front splitter to achieve additional unprecedented downforce. The Divo shares much in common with its smaller sibling, the Chiron, including the 1500 ponies generated by its 8.0L W-16 engine.
With a top speed of 236mph, Bugatti Divo falls short of the Chiron’s 261mph. To counter this, Bugatti added a carbon-fiber intercooler and lighter wheels, making it weigh less than the Chiron. Only 40 units will be made, which are all spoken for.
5 Bugatti Centodieci ($9 Million)
The Bugatti Centodieci pays homage to the 1991 EB110 supercar, nicknamed ‘centodieci’. The 2019 Bugatti Centodieci is more of a blend between the EB110 and the Bugatti Chiron and celebrates Bugatti’s 110th anniversary. Taking its raw power from the EB110 (most powerful during the ’90s), the new Centodieci generates a heart-pounding 1600hp from its quad-turbo W-16 engine.
With a top speed of 236mph, it may not be the fastest in its category, but this run-of-the-mill Centodieci does the 0-60mph sprint in 2.4 seconds. Only ten units were to hit the roads and have all been claimed.
4 Rolls-Royce Sweptail ($13 Million)
The Rolls-Royce Sweptail was also inspired by early 20th century cars, in addition to classic and modern yachts. It features an interrupted glass roof that runs from the front to the rear of the car. The interior is full of wood and leather decorations.
Under the hood of the Sweptail is a 6.75- liter V12 engine churning out 453 horsepower. The Sweptail is like a yacht on the road with all those features — perhaps that's why it is priced like one. As of 2019, the Sweptail was the most expensive car in the world, until the Bugatti La Voiture Noire overtook it.
3 Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta ($17.5 Million)
Zonda was the first car to be produced by Pagani Automobili. Pagani wanted to cease production of the Zonda some years ago, favoring the production of the Huayra. The Italian automaker has since developed several special editions of Zonda cars. The Zonda HP Barchetta has a roofless top and a carbon fibre body. It got its name ‘barchetta’ meaning ‘little boat’ in Italian, since it apparently resembles one.
It is powered by a Mercedes-Benz AMG V12 engine coupled to a 6-speed sequential transmission and a rear-wheel-drive drivetrain. This eye-catching supercar can sprint from 0-60 mph in under 3.4 seconds and won’t stop until it hits a top speed of 220mph. The Italian manufacturer made only three units of the Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta.
2 Bugatti La Voiture Noire (18.7 Million)
This unit is no longer the most expensive car today, thanks to the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail. Nonetheless, the Bugatti La Voiture Noire is still a fine piece of engineering. It shares a power unit similar to that in a Chiron, a quad-turbo 8.0-liter W16 engine producing 1,479hp and 1,180lb-ft of torque.
It has a hand-sculpted carbon-fiber shell. Today, the Bugatti La Voiture Noire is the 2nd most expensive car and is owned by 1 person. Initially, the owner bought the car for $12.5 million, but eventually coughed up $18.7 million after taxes.
1 Rolls-Royce Boat Tail ($28 Million)
The British luxury automaker really outdid itself with the stylish new Boat Tail, making it the costliest car. It’s a successor of the Sweptail, another expensive unit from Rolls-Royce. The Boat Tail draws its aesthetics inspiration from the J-Class boats built in the 1920s and 1930s.
Its rear deck opens up in a butterfly-like gesture, revealing a hosting suit containing a champagne fridge and a sun umbrella. The owner also gets two BOVET 1822 timepieces for both genders — they can either be worn or placed in the car’s fascia for use as dashboard clocks. One of the cars is rumored to have been sold to Jay-Z and Beyonce.