Rarity is often a virtue in its own right. Owning something exclusive can elevate even relatively mundane items into objects of desire. When those objects are already alluring, a limited production run or individual numbering heightens the appeal even further.
Car manufacturers have always sought to elevate their reputations and prestige by designing and marketing prototypes, unique cars, limited-edition models, and homologation specials. Yet occasionally, production numbers drop from the hundreds into double or even single figures. When that happens, only a select handful of people will own these rare cars at any one time.
To demonstrate how and why the rarest cars in the world achieved their status, we’ve evaluated 15 rare supercars and sports cars. There are no hot hatchbacks or sedans in this list of Alfas and Astons, McLarens, and Mercedes-Benzes. From rare cars to unique cars, this is what happens when manufacturers go off-piste and create something truly exceptional…
Why you can trust Luxe Digital? We’re used to navigating the exalted peaks of the automotive market, having previously profiled luxury car brands like Maserati, Bentley and Cadillac. It’s a testament to the exclusivity of the cars in this feature that none of those manufacturers have a featured model. We’ve focused on total production runs, ignoring vanity projects like the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.
Ferrari 250 GTO
Although it’s not the rarest car in the world, Ferrari’s 250 GTO has entered folklore as one of the most unattainable models ever manufactured. In part, that’s due to the eye-watering prices individual models now command – $70 million – and partly due to its legendary racing pedigree. Less than 40 were ever built, meaning few people have ever experienced its exquisite beauty in the metal.
| Production year: | 1962-64 |
| Units produced: | 39 |
| Price: | $70 million |
Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
As one of 007’s favorite cars, James Bond ensured the DB5 became perhaps the quintessential classic Aston Martin, yet its predecessor is also a glorious machine. In 1962, the DB4 GT was taken in-house by Zagato of Italy and restyled into a lightweight GT including futuristic use of aluminum and Perspex. Only 20 were ever made, with pentagonal rear windows and gorgeous wire spoke alloys.
| Production year: | 1960-63 |
| Units produced: | 20 |
| Price: | $14.3 million |
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
Confusingly, Alfa Romeo has marketed three different 33 models in its history. First came the 1960s original, followed by a boxy 1980s hatchback. There’s now a new 33 Stradale preparing for sale, including an electric version. We’ll stick with the original (and best) variant, manufactured for two years with a hand-built aluminum body and a bespoke race-bred engine.
| Production year: | 1967-69 |
| Units produced: | 18 |
| Price: | $10 million |
Jaguar XKSS
Jaguar could have appeared twice on this list, courtesy of the XK120-C. However, our vote goes to the XKSS from a few years later. A total of 25 were scheduled for production, but nine were lost in a factory fire. Remarkably, the XKSS only came around because Jaguar wanted to use up some spare D-Type chassis in its Browns Lane factory.
| Production year: | 1957 |
| Units produced: | 16 |
| Price: | $13 million |
Lamborghini Veneno
There’s something awe-inspiring about this preposterous fin-tailed Lamborghini, unveiled in 2013 to sharp intakes of breath all round. Taking its Aventador underpinnings several steps further, details include turbine-style seven-spoke wheels designed to cool the carbon-ceramic brakes behind murderous-looking Pirelli P Zero tires. Four coupes and nine roadsters were manufactured in total, celebrating Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary in appropriately OTT fashion.
| Production year: | 2013 |
| Units produced: | 13 |
| Price: | $11.1 million |
Bugatti Centodieci
Italian is such an evocative language. Centodieci sounds exotic to our ears, yet it translates as “a hundred and ten”. It’s a prosaic name for a thoroughly modern hypercar, paying tribute to the Bugatti marque’s historic EB110 and its Bauhaus-influenced design. Packing an eight-liter W16 engine, this coach-built masterpiece looks almost symphonically evil from any angle.
| Production year: | 2022 |
| Units produced: | 10 |
| Price: | $8.88 million |
W Motors Lykan HyperSport
Here’s an oddity amid the British and Italian gentry – a Lebanese supercar best known for crashing into skyscrapers in the typically understated Furious 7 movie. The carbon-fiber Lykan is equally modest, with gold stitching, a holograph-generating infotainment system and diamond-encrusted headlamps. Only seven HyperSports were ever made, and one subsequently became a police car in Abu Dhabi.
| Production year: | 2013-18 |
| Units produced: | 7 |
| Price: | $3.4 million |
Bugatti Royale
Bugatti is the only marque to appear twice in our list, because its history is peppered with exotic builds. Its full title is arresting – the Bugatti Type 41 Royale Kellner Coupe – while the preposterously long hood (containing a near 13-liter engine) is jaw-dropping, with passengers squashed away at the back like an afterthought. Seven were made, though Ettore Bugatti crashed one.
| Production year: | 1927-33 |
| Units produced: | 7 |
| Price: | N/A |
McLaren F1 LM
Long before it joined the supercar jet-set, McLaren was known as a Formula 1 and Le Mans specialist. Five F1 racing cars finished at Le Mans in 1995, with one taking the checkered flag. Five LM versions of the road-going F1 were duly commissioned, with a sixth retained by McLaren – a present to self after a memorable triumph on the global stage.
| Production year: | 1995 |
| Units produced: | 6 |
| Price: | $19.8 million |
Rolls-Royce Boat Tail
Throughout its history, Rolls-Royce has bequeathed ethereal names to its cars – Ghost, Shadow, Wraith. The Boat Tail doesn’t sound right, yet it certainly looks the part – combining century-old yacht design with echoes of the original 1910s Boat Tail Roller. It’s based on the Phantom with 1,800 points of difference, not least a timbered rear deck encompassing a parasol, rotating cocktail tables and two fridges.
| Production year: | 2021-22 |
| Units produced: | 3 |
| Price: | $28 million |
Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta
Pagani’s double-fisted assault on the supercar oligopoly swiftly earned it a seat at the table, with models like the Zonda HP Barchetta notable for their sheer audacity. Sporting part-covered rear wheels and a ludicrously ostentatious rear spoiler, only three Barchettas were ever manufactured. Tragically, one was written off after crashing into a Ford Fiesta on a quiet Croatian side street.
| Production year: | 2018 |
| Units produced: | 3 |
| Price: | $15 million |
Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita
Anything Pagani can do, Koenigsegg can do better. Another post-millennial entrant into the supercar elite, the standard CCX was outlandish enough before 2009’s Trevita upped the ante. Only two cars were ever made, such was the complexity of its carbon fiber diamond weave. That’s unfortunate, since the name Trevita means “three whites”, referring to the intended production run.
| Production year: | 2009 |
| Units produced: | 2 |
| Price: | $4.8 million |
Porsche 911 Speedster 993
Even more exclusive than the 550 Spyder of the 1950s (90 units manufactured in total), the mid-1990s saw Porsche produce a 911 Speedster to celebrate Ferdinand Porsche’s 60th birthday. Six years later, they manufactured a second one for the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. And production ended there. Ferdinand’s model now resides in the Porsche factory museum, reputedly with a four-figure odometer reading.
| Production year: | 1995-2001 |
| Units produced: | 2 |
| Price: | N/A |
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR
From the Noughties back to the Fifties, with this extraordinary gull-wing interpretation of the Mercedes-Benz SLR entered into the 1955 World Sportscar Championship. Road-going versions received a second seat and headlights, but otherwise, this is still a stripped-out racer. A catastrophic fire at Le Mans ended the 300’s racing career, rendering the SLR a phenomenally expensive and near-unique historic curio.
| Production year: | 1955 |
| Units produced: | 2 |
| Price: | $146 million |
Maybach Exelero
An offshoot of Mercedes-Benz with a reputation teetering between opulent and tacky, Maybach went off-piste in 2005 with this one-off coupe designed to test a new range of German tires. Its top speed of 217 mph was intended to fully test the rubber wrapped around those 23-inch alloys. Only one Exelero was ever made, now residing in a German museum.
| Production year: | 2005 |
| Units produced: | 1 |
| Price: | N/A |
Frequently asked questions about rare cars
Unique cars don’t come any more unique than the Maybach Exelero, with a total production run of just one. Its status as the rarest car in the world is further enhanced by the fact it’s now a museum exhibit.
The 1927 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Kellner Coupe was manufactured at the rate of one vehicle per year over a seven-year period.
Definitions vary, but production vehicles with less than a hundred roadgoing units could justifiably be described as rare cars. The rarest cars in the world drop down to single figures, while unique cars by their very definition are one-offs.
The mid-Noughties Maybach Exelero, famous for its starring role in a Jay-Z video, saw a single production model created for testing new tires. It can therefore lay claim to being the rarest car in the world.
