A rare sports car that broke records after it was sold at auction for about 150 million dollars.
A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe sold at auction in Germany for 135 million euros ($142.9 million) earlier this month.
That makes it 307,000% more valuable than the average new car in the United States, which cost $46,526 in April, according to auto industry tracker Kelley Blue Book.
The buyer of the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was an anonymous private collector who agreed with the company that the car would remain publicly available for special occasions.
The second prototype remains the property of Mercedes-Benz.
The car, named after its creator and chief engineer Rudolf Ullenhout, is one of two prototypes designed by Mercedes-Benz's racing division.
With top speeds of 180 mph, the car was one of the fastest road legal cars ever built at the time, according to RM Sotheby's auction.
The auction house said the sale made the car the most expensive ever sold, breaking the current record of more than 90 million euros.
It also made the car one of the 10 most expensive pieces ever sold at auction, according to RM Sotheby's.
The car was sold by Mercedes-Benz and the auction was held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
Only selected guests "who share common Mercedes-Benz values" were allowed to attend the auction.
Prior to this month's Mercedes sale, the record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction was the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, which fetched $45 million in 2018.
Proceeds from the sale of the Uhlenhaut Coupé will be used to create a global "Mercedes-Benz Fund" to award scholarships to study environmental sciences and decarbonization.
"The decision to sell one of these two unique sports cars was made with the best common sense for a good cause," Mercedes group president Ola Kallenius Benz said in a statement. "At the same time, achieving the highest price ever paid for a car is extraordinary and humbling."
Oliver Parker, president of Sotheby's Europe, said in a separate statement that the car "has now reached its neck in the greatest work of art ever sold".
He added: "Few people would have dreamed that this great jewel in the history of automobiles would go on sale.
Comments
Post a Comment