The 10 Most Expensive Cars in the World: A Look at Ultimate Automotive Luxury
While most of us will take a deep breath before signing a finance agreement on a new hatchback, the world’s super rich won’t blink as they sign up for a hypercar which costs multiple millions. These buyers will think a Rolls Royce Phantom or Ferrari 12Cilindri is just too common and they will demand a car which is bespoke, unique and strictly limited in numbers. And they are prepared to pay prices which are many times the cost of the marque’s other models. This sort of car is beyond the reach of lottery winners and only available to the billionaire elite. These are the 10 most expensive cars in the world.
Bugatti Divo – £4.4 million
If the standard Bugatti Chiron isn’t special enough, then how about a coachbuilt version which is said to be even more thrilling to drive? The Divo is named after the French-Italian racing driver Albert Divo, an air force pilot and mechanic who became a Bugatti works driver in 1928 and immediately won the legendary Targa Florio race. The car named after him uses the Chiron’s 8-litre, quad turbo W16 to produce 1,479bhp. The 0-62mph time is quoted as 2.4 seconds but the top speed is actually lower than the Chiron’s at ‘only’ 236mph. This is because the Divo does without the ‘Top Speed’ mode and has increased drag from a 1.8-metre wide fixed rear wing, a larger front spoiler, bigger side skirts, and wider air intakes. So it’s not mistaken for a common Chiron, there are also new headlamps and tail lights plus a wider version of Bugatti’s ‘horseshoe’ grille. Just 40 Divos were produced and sold out on its first day of ordering. The customers were allowed almost infinite personalisation options and no two are the same. If you’re looking for Bugatti deals or looking to buy a Bugatti in the US, it’s best to start with authorized dealers.
Pagani Huayra Imola Roadster – £4.7 million
Pagani’s very richest customers will be steered towards its ‘Grand Complications’ department, a division dedicated to creating special projects produced in ultra-limited numbers. The Imola Roadster is one of its products, with just eight made and each given a unique specification chosen by the new owner. It’s named after the Italian circuit on which the chassis was fine-tuned, and features a tweaked version of Pagani’s AMG-sourced V12 twin-turbo with 838bhp. That’s fed to just the rear wheels through a seven-speed sequential gearbox. The top speed is limited to 217 mph, which equates to a more rounded 350 kph for the metric-loving Italians. Those are some heavyweight numbers, but the car is a lightweight compared to the likes of the Bugatti Chiron, tipping the scales at 1,260kg – that’s less than an Audi TT. However, those huge spoilers produce another 900kg of downforce at track speeds, sticking the Imola to the road surface under cornering. The weight saving is largely possible because of the use of exotic composites including impressive-sounding Carbo-Titanium HP62-G2 and Carbo-Triax HP62. These are said to be incredibly stiff, helping the Pagani’s handling.
Pagani Huayra Codalunga – £5.9 million
It may sound like a fish or cartoon turtle’s catchphrase, but the Codalunga has a better tail to tell. Two collectors asked Horacio Pagani to produce a ‘long-tail’ version of the Huayra Coupé which would take its inspiration from cars which raced at Le Mans in the 1960s. Besides being pretty, these smooth tapering shapes were also very aerodynamic. After two years of honing the design with the customers, the car was finally revealed. The cars all use neutral colours and matte paints, with seats finished with a woven leather upholstery, and aluminium components machined from a single block. The four-pipe exhaust – also a homage to old Le Mans cars – is ceramic-coated for a unique finish. As with the Imola, the Codalunga uses the AMG-built twin turbo 6-litre V12 engine, which in this tune produces 829 bhp, giving a 217mph top speed. Besides the original two buyers, a further three cars were built, and all are fully homologated for use on the public road – if you are brave enough to risk sharing space with other drivers.
Mercedes-Maybach Exelero – £6.2 million
Imagine going to your boss and saying you need a new car to test tyres. It needs to be big, heavy and fast. But instead of choosing an existing super saloon, the owners of Fulda – Goodyear’s German subsidiary – commissioned a £6.2 million, one off coupe from Maybach. The company had done the same thing back in 1938, and the result was the Maybach SW38, which was capable of 125mph – quite a feat for the time. That car was destroyed in WWII, but its spirit and ‘streamliner’ styling cues live on in the Exelero. The 2.6 tonne car has just two seats yet is 5,834mm long – that’s longer than a Rolls Royce Phantom. That meant the bonnet could be extended to a length big enough to play tennis on. Underneath is a V12 which was increased from a standard Maybach’s 5.6-litres to 5.9-litres and has two turbos to boost power to 691bhp. Top speed is claimed to be 217mph. The car has appeared in various films and TV shows and there were rumours that it had been bought by a rapper. However, it is still currently on show in a German museum.
Bugatti Centodieci – £7 million
If you are a billionaire Bugatti collector, you were probably waiting impatiently for a new car to match your classic EB110 Supersport from the mid 1990s. Well, the wait was over in 2019 when the company built the Centrodieci – a Chiron based coupe which harked back to the EB110 and celebrated the company’s 110th birthday. It’s surprisingly different to the Chiron too, with an entirely new roofline, lower front and a rear that sits much higher. There’s a much smaller version of the Bugatti horseshoe grille too, matching the EB110’s, along with that car’s five round air intakes arranged in the shape of a diamond and a long glass engine cover. Mechanically it’s the same as the Chiron, with Bugatti’s 8.0-litre W16 engine producing 1,578 bhp, giving the Centodieci a 0 to 62 mph time of 2.4 seconds. Top speed is just under 240mph, and the chassis has been tweaked to give an even sportier driving experience. Just 10 examples were hand-built and every one was sold before it was made at a unit price of €8m.
Bugatti Chiron Profilée – £8.4 million
If you bought one of the other Bugatti specials there is always the risk that some other billionaire could pull up outside the local Tesco in the same car. Can you imagine the shame? To prevent this, there is only one solution – you need a one-off. This is precisely what was offered by the Chiron Profilée, although it wasn’t built with any one customer in mind. Instead, the car was built in response to several collectors who expressed a desire for a Chiron which combined some of the performance and handling upgrades of the track-focussed Pur Sport with a touch more road bias. Bugatti started work on the car but soon realised they would never be able to put it into production as the Chiron production was strictly limited to 500 cars and they were all accounted for. As a result, just one Profilée was ever made. To add to its special credentials, the car is the last Bugatti to feature the W16 engine and is the fastest accelerating of all Chiron models, with a 0-62 time of 2.3 seconds. If you’re looking for a high-performance coupe, a Bugatti dealer or a Bugatti dealership are the best places to start your search.
Rolls Royce Sweptail – £10 million
When most of us choose a new car, we might treat ourselves to a couple of optional extras such as metallic paint or a sunroof which could add a few hundred quid to the price. But when a Hong Kong based businessman decided to order a Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe, he opted to have a bespoke body and interior, modelled on luxury yachts and classic coachbuilt Rolls Royce Sweptails of the 1920s and 30s. It took Rolls Royce four years to build and cost £10 million – the same as 22 ‘standard’ Phantom Coupes. This made it the world’s most expensive car when it was revealed in 2017. Its most distinctive feature is the long, tapering tail, which is topped by a panoramic glass roof, which is one of the biggest and most complex ever seen on a car. This allows us all to see inside, which is trimmed in two tone leathers for the seats, armrests and fascia surround. Woods are highly polished Mac
