Supercars and hypercars sit at the top of the automotive food chain, representing the pinnacle of engineering, design, and performance. With extreme power-to-weight ratios and wild designs, they are extremely fast, typically gorgeous, factory-built, and rare street-legal vehicles capable of incredible feats of physics. As such, they are boutique luxury items and priced accordingly.
Despite their limited availability and multi-million-dollar prices, the market for expensive and rare hypercars is hot, and boutique automakers continue to one-up each other with increasingly pricey and bonkers cars with the specs to match.
Here are five of the most expensive supercars and hypercars in the world.
Aston Martin Valkyrie
The Valkyrie is a $4.8 million* supercar born from a collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing. It features technical sophistication, carbon fibre construction, and a Formula One race car-inspired design – race car designer Adrian Newey engineered it – and its impressive list of collaborators also includes electric sports car maker Rimac and racing suppliers like Cosworth, Michelin, and Canada's Multimatic, each contributing their respective skills and expertise.
A 1,139-horsepower 6.5-litre V12 hybrid powertrain powers the Valkyrie, unleashing a thrilling combination of speed and power. With the help of its IMSA GTP prototype-like bodywork and active suspension system (which can reduce its ride height and produce a claimed 1,100 kilograms of downforce), the Aston Martin supercar is capable of reaching a top track speed of 220 mph (354 km/h). The classic zero-to-60-mph (97 km/h) sprint is completed in a claimed 2.3 seconds.
Like its exterior, the Aston's cabin is also heavily influenced by race cars. The driver and passenger sit in an F1-like feet-up position. Driving data is viewed on a single display screen, and the supercar's switchgear is found on the steering wheel, which is detachable to make getting in and out easier. A four-point harness is standard, but a six-point harness is available for track days. If the idea of a road-legal race car strikes your fancy, know that only 150 copies of the Valkyrie are planned for production.
Bugatti Tourbillon
The Tourbillon is Bugatti's first completely new model since the Volkswagen Group’s super luxury brand merged with Rimac in 2021. Named after the mechanism in high-end watches, the Tourbillon replaces the Chiron as Bugatti's reigning supercar.
The Bugatti's new V16 engine is the first to use this configuration in a road car since the 1991 Cizeta-Moroder V16T. Engineered in collaboration with Cosworth, the Tourbillon's engine is the result of Bugatti's decision not to electrically boost its existing W16 or develop a pure electric model. Three electric motors help the new gas powerplant deliver an astonishing 1,775 hp – the most in any Bugatti in history. This prodigious power is harnessed by an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, enabling acceleration from zero to 60 mph in just 2.0 seconds and a top speed of 250 mph (403 km/h) in 25 seconds. The Tourbillon also features a 21.0-kiloWatt hour battery pack, delivering about 30 miles (48 km) of electric range.
Typical of any Bugatti, the interior of the Tourbillon is adorned with rich materials like leather, machined metal, and crystal. It also ditches the touchscreen trend in favour of an analogue driving experience; the Bugatti's steering wheel – a collaboration with a Swiss watchmaker – rotates around the fixed gauges with raised numbers and physical needles. If you want to own this piece of automotive history, act fast, as only 250 examples will be produced, with a starting price of over $6.3 million.
Ferrari Daytona SP3
Ferrari has a rich history of beautiful supercars and championship-winning race cars. This combination allows the Italian company to dig into its past to create new, modern supercars, from the 1984 GTO to the 2016 LaFerrari Aperta. The latest is the new Daytona SP3, the third model in Ferrari's Icona series of limited-production supercars inspired by the trio of Ferrari's 330 P4 race cars that took the top three podium places in the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race. Fun Ferrari fact: until now, the company has never named a car a Daytona, the nickname given to the 1968 to 1973 365 GTB.
Built upon the LaFerrari Aperta's mechanicals, the Daytona SP3 wears a host of retro exterior styling elements, including a wraparound windshield and horizontal vents across the rear as per the original P4. The Ferrari supercar also brings its 1960s vibe to the powertrain, a naturally aspirated 6.5L V12 that sends its power to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. It makes 829 hp (a 10 hp jump over the Ferrari 812 Competizione's V12), making the Daytona SP3 Ferrari's most powerful road car in history, with a top speed of 211 mph (340 km) and a zero-to-60-mph time of under three seconds.
You'll have to look for examples of the Ferrari Daytona SP3 at auctions or on sites like AutoTrader. All 599 copies have been pre-sold at a base price of $3 million.
Mercedes-AMG One
Following the German company's last supercar, the 2003 to 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, the new Mercedes-AMG One has many parents. Its development was a unique partnership between Mercedes-AMG's road car team, the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, and the AMG High-Performance Powertrains division, making it a truly exclusive piece of automotive high art.
For the One, the specialists who built the F1 team's powertrain crafted a longitudinally mounted 1.6L V6 – a version of the F1 engine that powered Mercedes to eight consecutive constructors' titles. Four electric motors are combined with the gas engine to deliver a staggering 1,049 hp – 329 more than the previous most powerful AMG supercar, the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. The One can go from zero to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds. With a top speed restricted to 219 mph (353 km/h), it becomes the automaker's fastest production car, surpassing the 214 mph (344 km/h) Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR supercar from the 1990s.
The Mercedes-AMG One is also built like an F1 car. Its chassis is based on a carbon fibre monocoque, while its exterior was developed to generate maximum downforce. There are three different aerodynamic modes: Highway, Race Max Downforce, and Race DRS (for Drag Reduction System, where the ducts and louvres are closed and the rear-wing flap is retracted).
Only 275 units will be produced, and the $4 million supercar has already sold out.
Pagani Utopia
The Pagani Utopia is the successor to the wild Huayra and boasts a manual gearbox, a naturally aspirated V12 engine, and a strikingly lightweight design.
The Utopia features a carbon tub that weighs only 1,280 kg, 67 kg less than the Huayra. This lightweight design, a hallmark of Pagani's engineering, contributes to the Utopia's exceptional performance. Pagani swapped the Huayra's seven-speed sequential automatic gearbox with a lightweight seven-speed manual transmission (customers can switch to an automatic mode for stop-and-go traffic). The Utopia's new manual is mated to an upgraded version of Pagani's Mercedes-AMG-sourced 6.0L twin-turbocharged V12, producing 864 hp – 58 hp more than the most powerful Huayra.
Stepping inside the Utopia, you'll find a cabin that blends old and new. The predominantly analogue setup, with milled switches and a single small screen in front of the driver, is a nod to classic analogue automotive design. The new steering wheel, milled from a solid aluminum block, showcases Pagani's commitment to unique design elements.
With Pagani's annual production limited to just 50 cars, the Utopia's exclusivity is further underscored by the fact that only 99 units, each priced at $3 million, will be made. This exclusivity has already attracted a select group of buyers, and all units have been sold.
*Estimated Manufacturer Suggested Retail Prices in Canadian dollars as of July 1, 2024.
