Top 10 World's Most Expensive Cars 2006

The world's ten most expensive automobiles are listed after this article and include such amazingly constructed cars as a street-legal, ten-cylinder Porsche race car (the Carrera GT) and cars with over 1,000 hp each ( Bugatti's Veyron 16.4 and SSC's Ultimate Aero).

These kinds of cars make Ferraris and Aston Martins look like relative bargains; despite their fame, they are much cheaper than the cars on our list. Of the ten most expensive cars, only two are made by brands with household names--Porsche and Mercedes-Benz--although I guess it depends on what your household is like.

But the ten most expensive cars aren't just rare. They are beautiful, but in daring, sometimes avant-garde ways that mainstream cars can't follow. Their top speeds set records. Their technology is pioneering, and attainable only by the wealthiest of car buyers--and that's a blessing even for the non-wealthy.

Just how rich a world is the world in which the ten most expensive cars live? For one thing, no Ferrari, Aston, Bentley, Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce made the list. Two Maybachs did--but just barely.

The final cut was determined through extensive research and stringent methodology. For one thing, the list only concerns vehicles of which multiple copies exist. Special prototypes were not included.

In addition, some hot-rod shops can build, to a customer's specification, cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. These custom jobs are not the sort of thing we considered for this story. Nor did we consider kit cars, under the logic that things you build in your garage don't count. We also only considered original-issue cars, and not modifications of other manufacturers' vehicles.

For each nameplate that we evaluated, we only looked at its most expensive model. For example, Italian automaker Pagani makes several different editions of its Zonda supercar, but we only included the most expensive one--the $667,000 Clubsport version of the Zonda Roadster F C12S 7.3. 

Pagani recommends all of its global dealers offer the Zonda for the same base price. However, other companies' cars can change prices for different countries--and we're not just talking about the inclusion of region-specific charges, such as duties and transportation fees.

For example, Saleen's S7 Twin Turbo supercar costs $83,000 more in Europe than in the U.S.--a price hike of 15%. This is because Saleen originally designed the car for the American market and must modify it to make it street legal in other regions.

But each of the ten cars listed after this article --the ten most expensive street-legal cars in production in the world at press time--is not available in all markets. Although some cars on the list are not available in the U.S., we converted all base prices to U.S. dollars to determine each vehicle's place in the rankings. We based all conversions on current exchange rates.

In order to properly position such cars as the S7, which have different base prices in different areas, we fit each car into the rankings based on its highest base price in the world. Other cars have one base price that applies throughout the world.

We contacted all of the manufacturers represented in this article for verification of the statistics presented there. Moreover, to make sure we did not miss any vehicles that had a chance of qualifying for the list, we sent multiple e-mails or made multiple phone calls to each manufacturer--of whom we were aware--of original, exotic sports cars; not everybody responded. Since the only other kinds of vehicles we felt had a chance of making the list were the ultra high-end cars of Maybach, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, we contacted those manufacturers and asked if they knew of any other similarly pricey luxury cars. All three said "no."

In searching for companies to contact, we encountered certain obstacles. Some automakers had what appeared to be either defunct contact information or no contact information listed on their Web sites. Some had Web sites that were not available in English. Some had no Web sites. And in a few cases, we had heard of some manufacturers but were unable to track them down.

Most automakers are reachable via e-mail, and we excluded from consideration automakers without published e-mail addresses.

However, we are confident that we spoke with the automakers that had the possibility of making this list.

Another technicality in terms of contacting companies is that we were able to obtain American and/or European prices from some companies, but not global prices. When a manufacturer would not provide us with global prices, we fit its models into the rankings based on the highest base prices of which we were aware.
As a rule for this story, we used the most current information available.
And now for the cars!!!

#10. Maybach 57 S

• Country of Origin: Germany
• Price: €362,000 in Europe ($430,355)
• Price in U.S.: $367,000

Maybach's new model, the 57 S, is designed to be a sportier alternative to its other cars, the 57 and 62. The 57 S has more power than the 57 or 62, 604 hp versus 543.

#9. Porsche Carrera GT

• Country of Origin: Germany
• Price: $440,000 (U.S.)

Some automotive publications claim Porsche has stopped selling its Carrera GT supercar. But at press time, Porsche confirmed that its $440,000 flagship convertible is still available in the U.S. The Carrera GT uses a ten-cylinder engine--a type of power plant that is rarely seen outside of racing.

#8. Maybach 62

• Country of Origin: Germany
• Price: €376,200 ($448,153, Europe)
• Price in U.S.: $385,250

Maybach's 62 ultra-luxury sedan is made by Mercedes-Benz, which has shocked us by proving that a car that is this expensive to build can turn a profit. While the European-spec Maybach 62 is more expensive than the European SLR McLaren, the U.S. version of the SLR is more expensive than any Maybach.

#7. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

• Country of Origin: Germany
• Price: $452,750 (U.S.)

A mainstay on our lists of the world's fastest and most expensive cars, the delightful SLR McLaren is about as comfortable and sophisticated as a street-legal race car can be. The SLR is a collaboration between Mercedes and legendary British race car builder McLaren.

#6. Koenigsegg CCR

• Country of Origin: Sweden
• Price: €458,000 in all regions except U.S. ($545,568)
• Price in U.S.: $540,000

Koenigsegg's CCR uses an 806-hp V-8. At the recent Geneva Motor Show, Koenigsegg unveiled the CCX, a derivative of its CC family that is street-legal for the U.S.

#5. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo

• Country of Origin: U.S.
• Price: €535,000 in Europe ($637,723)
• Price in U.S.: $555,000

Saleen's S7 Twin Turbo has fallen to fifth place from first last year, because all four nameplates ahead of it in this year's ranking are new. But the S7 remains one of the more recognizable (that's a relative term here) models on the list. The S7 uses a 750-hp V-8. It can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in under three seconds.

#4. Leblanc Mirabeau

• Country of Origin: Switzerland
• Price: €543,000 ($645,084, global)

Leblanc is ramping up production of its new Mirabeau supercar. The company hopes to make the vehicle street-legal for the U.S. by the end of 2006 or early 2007. The Mirabeau is a mid-engine race car that can put out over 700 hp.

#3. SSC Ultimate Aero

• Country of Origin: U.S.
• Price: $654,500 (U.S.)

The most expensive American car is also the fastest. Automaker SSC estimates this vehicle is capable of hitting 260 to 273 mph on the track.

The Ultimate Aero uses a 1,046-hp V-8.

#2. Pagani Zonda Roadster F C12S 7.3, Clubsport version

• Country of Origin: Italy
• Price: $667,321 (global)

Pagani is a boutique automaker that builds radical-looking race cars. This version of its Zonda flagship has 650 hp. This expensive new model has helped the Zonda remain in second place on our list, where it ended up last year.

#1. Bugatti Veyron 16.4

• Country of Origin: France
• Price: €1,000,000 ($1,192,057)

With its notorious production delays finally over, Bugatti's Veyron is now on sale in Europe--and the company wants to bring it to the U.S. The Veyron uses a 16-cylinder, 1001-hp motor.

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