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Three times as expensive as the previous record holder:
Mercedes Coupé 300 SLR Uhlenhaut from 1955
Photo: - / AFP
The most expensive car in the world comes from Stuttgart: As the auction house RM Sotheby's announced on Thursday, a Mercedes Coupé 300 SLR Uhlenhaut from 1955 was sold at a confidential auction in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in early May for 135 million euros.
There are only two examples of the prototype, both of which previously belonged to the car manufacturer itself.
The buyer is therefore a private collector, according to media reports it should be a Brit.
Only invited guests were admitted to the auction.
The car was built by the Mercedes-Benz racing department and is named after chief engineer
Rudolf Uhlenhaut
(deceased 1989).
It will "continue to be made accessible to the public on special occasions".
The second copy is still to be exhibited in the Stuttgart Museum.
The Uhlenhaut coupés are "milestones in sports car development and important historical cornerstones of our brand," said
Ola Källenius
(52), CEO of Mercedes-Benz.
A worldwide scholarship program, the "Mercedes-Benz Fund", will be financed with the proceeds.
This should encourage a new generation to develop new technologies, especially for decarbonization and resource conservation, continued Källenius.
The funds are intended for students and pupils who otherwise do not have sufficient financial resources.
With the sale of the luxury car, Källenius underlines his new luxury strategy, which he had only announced the day before.
The brand with the star wants to build the "most desirable cars in the world," the CEO said on Thursday.
More expensive special editions for collectors are also to be built in small numbers in the manufactory.
In return, Mercedes-Benz is eliminating three compact car models.
The Mercedes was almost three times as expensive as the previous record holder, a Ferrari 250 GTO from 1962. This was auctioned in 2018 for around 45 million euros.
According to RM Sotheby's, the coupe is "among the top 10 most expensive objects ever sold at auction".
At the top of the list is the artwork "Salvator Mundi," attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which went under the hammer in 2017 for around $450 million.
mg/AFP, dpa-afx