There have always been certain cars that are much more expensive than others. This could be due to all sorts of different reasons. It could be because they’re incredibly luxurious, packed with all the latest innovations you can get in a car. It could be because they’re incredibly fast and needed some serious performance engineering to make them that way. It could also be because they’re handcrafted, limited-production cars, or ones that are made bespoke or almost bespoke to every single customer.
Every so often, though, a car will come along whose price is so huge that you almost don’t believe that it’s real. These stupendously priced cars can have values that run well into the millions of dollars. This makes them pricey status symbols that only the wealthiest among us can afford. This is especially the case with luxury cars, as they are the most likely to remain hugely expensive as time goes on.
10 Rolls-Royce Phantom – $700,000+
If you’re looking for a byword for luxury, there isn’t one that’s any better than Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce has always prided itself on making what it considers to be the best and most luxurious cars in the world. The modern version of the Phantom has been the figurehead of that for decades now. It’s an ultra-smooth, ultra-refined luxury sedan, with plenty of power and all the tech you could possibly want.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom starts off at around $700,000. How high the price can go, though, is almost limitless. Rolls-Royce prides itself on making its cars as bespoke as possible for every owner, and they’ll make any kind of modifications you want as long as you can pay for it. It wouldn’t be that unusual for some Phantom orders to go well past the $1 million mark when all is said and done!
9 Rolls-Royce Cullinan – $335,000+
While the Phantom may still be at the top of the pile when it comes to supreme luxury, that hasn’t stopped Rolls-Royce from trying to bring that to the SUV market. The Cullinan is perhaps the most luxurious (and most ostentatious!) SUV that’s ever been made. Its striking styling really divided opinion back when it was unveiled, with it often being lampooned as “ugly”. Divisive looks aside, it does offer nearly unmatched Rolls-Royce levels of comfort, and it has all the tech you could possibly want.
The Cullinan starts from a relatively affordable $335,000. But, as with the Phantom, Rolls-Royce can do basically whatever you want as long as you can afford to pay for it. With this in mind, it is genuinely possible that somebody could order a Cullinan that costs $1 million or more!
8 Bentley Bacalar – $2 Million
Like Rolls-Royce, Bentley has prided itself on making the world’s most luxurious cars ever since it was formed. This has now got to the stage where it’ll do limited-run models and special commissions for its wealthiest clients. The Bacalar is one of those limited-run special models. Made by the Mulliner division, these cars are essentially hyper-luxurious W12 Continental GTs, with styling that was intended to pave the way for the future generations of Bentley’s regular production cars.
These Continental GT-based roadsters are, fittingly, extremely expensive. Any of the lucky owners of a Bacalar had to shell out just shy of $2 million to get their hands on one. Those that did get them will probably also keep them locked away in air-conditioned garages for the rest of time.
7 Bugatti Type 41 Royale – $10 Million
Bugatti has always been known as a brand associated with supreme levels of luxury. The Type 41 Royale is perhaps the ultimate status of that. This enormous beast from the inter-war period was, and still is, one of the most exclusive cars in the world. Only 7 of them were ever made, and they were incredibly expensive even back then. Now, it’s a whole new level of pricey, as examples have been known to go for as much as $10 million!
If you’re an owner of one of those 7 Bugatti Type 41 Royales, you are in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs. You have to be one of the world’s wealthiest people, be a huge enthusiast for Bugattis and/or inter-war era luxury cars, and be patient enough to wait for one to come up for sale. It might be well worth being that patient, though, as these cars are unlike anything else.
6 Aston Martin Victor – $4 Million To $5 Million
A regular Aston Martin is enough for most people. Some customers, though, want something properly special. That was the case with the Aston Martin Victor. This was a one-off commission for an Aston Martin enthusiast, who has remained anonymous. Named after Victor Gauntlett, an important figure in Aston Martin’s history, the Victor is an opulent grand tourer designed for transporting you across continents at high speed.
As you’d expect from a one-off, specially commissioned piece, the Victor was incredibly expensive. Q by Aston Martin (the company’s bespoke branch) has never officially released any figures for the Victor’s cost. But, it’s been estimated to be anywhere between $4 million to $5 million. That’s definitely a price tag that only the wealthiest of us could splash out, and that value will likely only rise over time.
5 Pininfarina Battista – $2.2 Million
You might not have expected to see an electric supercar on this list. But, the Pininfarina Battista is luxurious enough to deserve its spot here! The Battista is the pinnacle of early 2020s EV engineering, putting out a total of 1,900 hp from its Rimac-sourced powertrain. What this massive power gives you is a 0-62 time of just 1.89 seconds and a top speed of over 220 mph!
The base price of the Pininfarina Battista is $2.2 million. That may make it one of the cheapest options on this list, but that’s still a price so huge that only the wealthiest of us can afford one.
4 Bugatti La Voiture Noire – $16.5 Million
When the Bugatti La Voiture Noire was revealed, it created a huge stir. That’s absolutely unsurprising, considering that at the time it was the most expensive production car in the world! It had a price of $16.5 million when it was new. That value is no doubt going to increase over time, as it’s a total one-off that’ll almost certainly be kept in an air-conditioned garage most of the time.
The identity of La Voiture Noire’s owner is unconfirmed. There have been plenty of rumours, though, that the anonymous owner is the world-famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. If that really is the case, it wouldn’t be that surprising!
3 Bugatti Type 57 – $4.7 Million
Old Bugattis really is the byword in old-school luxury, and the Type 57 is no exception. This coachbuilt luxury car was one of the most expensive production cars in the world when it was new, and it’s still incredibly expensive to get your hands on one now. A 1937 Type 57SC Tourer sold for $4.7 million in January 2021. While that isn’t anywhere near as expensive as some of the cars on this list, that’s still an incredibly huge amount of money for a car from the 1930s!
Owning any kind of inter-war era Bugatti is something that makes you stand out from any other car collector. They have a sense of class and poise that not many other cars have. Like the Type 41 Royale, the Type 57 is just nothing like any other car.
2 Rolls-Royce Sweptail – $12.8 Million
The Rolls-Royce Sweptail was the first commission built under its new coachbuild program, which specializes in creating bespoke cars for its most exclusive customers. As you’d expect, the Sweptail is unlike anything else on the road. It’s extravagantly luxurious even by Rolls-Royce’s standards! The styling was inspired by a luxury yacht and classic luxury cars from the inter-war years, hence the swooping rear end and plenty of gorgeous teak decking.
The Rolls-Royce Sweptail is reported to have cost its anonymous owner a massive $12.8 million. That makes it one of the most expensive production cars ever made! The owner of the Sweptail was also unconfirmed for a period, as Rolls-Royce likes to keep the identities of its coachbuild customers a secret. It’s now known to be Sam Li, the son of Hong Kong-based real estate billionaire Samuel Tak Lee.
1 Rolls-Royce Boat Tail – $28 Million
Many of us likely thought that it would have been difficult for Rolls-Royce to top the Sweptail for its second project under the coachbuild program. But, that’s what it managed to do with the Boat Tail! This car has styling that echoes classic speedboats with their swooping lines and wood decking. Keeping with those classic styling cues, it also has a traditional fabric convertible roof. The opulence continues in the interior, which includes a champagne cooler!
The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail was the car that dethroned Bugatti’s La Voiture Noire as the world’s most expensive production car. The Boat Tail reportedly set its owners back an absolutely eyewatering $28 million! Whoever owns the Boat Tail is unconfirmed, but there have been rumours that it could have been made for Beyonce and Jay Z. Jay Z is a co-owner of the Armand de Brignac brand of champagne, which the car’s champagne cooler is specifically designed to hold bottles of.
