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 manufacturer confirmed that it has sold a luxury car or truck for a brain-boggling $142 million (135 million EUR), shattering the previous document for the most expensive auto ever offered.
“We [wanted], with 1 one act, to exhibit the ability of the Mercedes brand,” reported their chairman, Ola Källenius, in a assertion next the shut invitation auction on Could 5 at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, BNN Bloomberg described. The function was held in collaboration with car auction company RM Sotheby’s.
The automobile in issue was an ultra-unusual 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, 1 of only two at any time created. Mercedes hasn’t divulged the buyer’s identification having said that, the auction reportedly highlighted close to a dozen bidders with many Swiss-Italian, English and US Mercedes-Benz collectors being floated as achievable purchasers.
With the sale, the car business topped — practically three times around — the earlier general public history of $70 million, shelled out in 2018 for a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO. Proceeds from the sale will reportedly go toward establishing the Mercedes-Benz Fund, a international scholarship fund aimed at aiding income-strapped pupils achieve their vocation desires, for every a Mercedes press release.
The price may appear to be steep, but car aficionados assert that the figure is ideal presented the caliber of the car, which can vacation up to 186 mph.
“That vehicle is 100% worth what it sold for,” stated exceptional car broker Stephen Serio. “Nobody at any time considered Mercedes would provide it.”
Indeed, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR’s benefit is thanks, in component, to the fact that the vehicle is exceedingly scarce. Of the 9 300 SLR vehicles created, there were being only two SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé prototypes, which derive their title from Mercedes’ famed test section head, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, in accordance to BNN Bloomberg’s report. He made use of a person of the types as the firm motor vehicle, although the second haute rod is saved safely and securely away in the organization vault.
“Their racing autos from the 1930s and 1950s are exceptional, and most are nevertheless owned by the manufacturing unit, so any that occur to current market are hugely sought just after,” Hagerty’s Brian Rabold informed CNN.
Luckily, the latest obtain doesn’t preclude back seat vehicle buffs from at any time observing this automotive holy grail again. Per the problems of the sale, the Uhlenhaut will keep on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, along with the 2nd SLR coupe, while the anonymous owner will get the opportunity to once in a while — and pretty meticulously — just take their vintage whip for a spin.
