Mercedes-Benz crashes record for most expensive car sold at $142M

These wheels of fortune are turning in Mercedes-Benz’s favor.

The German automotive model verified that it has offered a luxury car or truck for a mind-boggling $142 million (135 million EUR), shattering the preceding report for the most pricey auto ever offered.

“We [wanted], with one one act, to demonstrate the electric power of the Mercedes manufacturer,” reported their chairman, Ola Källenius, in a statement adhering to the shut invitation auction on May perhaps 5 at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, BNN Bloomberg claimed. The party was held in collaboration with auto auction company RM Sotheby’s.

The automobile in query was an ultra-scarce 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, a person of only two ever manufactured. Mercedes hasn’t divulged the buyer’s identity however, the auction reportedly featured all around a dozen bidders with various Swiss-Italian, English and US Mercedes-Benz collectors being floated as attainable purchasers.

With the sale, the motor vehicle enterprise topped — practically 3 occasions above — the previous general public history of $70 million, shelled out in 2018 for a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO. Proceeds from the sale will reportedly go toward developing the Mercedes-Benz Fund, a international scholarship fund aimed at serving to hard cash-strapped college students realize their career dreams, for every a Mercedes push launch.

The price could seem steep, but automobile aficionados claim that the figure is correct supplied the caliber of the auto, which can journey up to 186 mph.

“That vehicle is 100% worth what it bought for,” explained scarce vehicle broker Stephen Serio. “Nobody ever imagined Mercedes would offer it.”

Without a doubt, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR’s benefit is owing, in aspect, to the point that the car or truck is exceedingly rare. Of the 9 300 SLR cars built, there had been only two SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé prototypes, which derive their title from Mercedes’ famed check office head, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, in accordance to BNN Bloomberg’s report. He employed a person of the types as the firm car or truck, even though the second haute rod is saved securely away in the business vault.

“Their racing automobiles from the 1930s and 1950s are unusual, and most are nonetheless owned by the manufacturing facility, so any that occur to market place are really sought after,” Hagerty’s Brian Rabold explained to CNN.

Thankfully, the new invest in does not preclude back seat automobile buffs from ever seeing this automotive holy grail all over again. For each the circumstances of the sale, the Uhlenhaut will continue to be on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, along with the next SLR coupe, when the nameless owner will get the option to from time to time — and extremely diligently — acquire their vintage whip for a spin.