LONDON: If you are looking for a car that is even more exclusive than the Bentley Continental or Bugatti Chiron, then check out the luxury models carmakers are working on right now.
For those with too much money to spend, luxury manufacturers take established models and then partly or almost entirely revamp them into pure status symbols with excessive features and performance, Dietrich Hatlapa of London's Hagi Group explains.
Of course, these limited editions come with a hefty price tag, but also with one of the most coveted characteristics a car can have: they are rare.
The pricey modifications are worth it for manufacturers, who will have often sold out of these cars before they begin production. Owners, meanwhile, get to flaunt their eye-catching racers, even if the investment rarely pays off in the long run.
The car might cost three times as much as the basic model, but that doesn't mean it will automatically be worth three times as much as a collector's item, Hatlapa says.
Such cars may quickly lose in value, but demand for cars like Bentley's upcoming Bacalar is still high. Bentley is making just 12 of these two-seaters, based on the new Continental GT Cabrio but with a heavily modified body.
Then there's Rolls Royce's limited-edition Silver Bullet, based on the Dawn convertible. Here, too, the rear seat disappears under a special cover. No details were initially available about the price.
The latest small series by Aston Martin and McLaren aren't quite as rare but make up for it in speed. James Bond's own brand is currently building 88 units of a V12 Speedster, which with 700hp reaches a top speed of more than 300kph.
McLaren, meanwhile, plans a breath of fresh air for 399 buyers of the Elva for a cool €1.7 million (RM8.2mil). Although 818hp is powerful and over 320kph fast, not only is there no hood, there isn't even a windscreen - instead, at high speeds, a special system guides air over the open cockpit.
Ferrari is doing the same thing and presented its Monza SP1 and SP2 before its British rival. Based on the 812 and available with one or two seats, the V12 sportscar with 810hp is also only available with neither roof nor windscreen.
Ferrari says the car is designed for "passionate customers and collectors" which is likely to mean a small number of units and a higher price tag, although this information has yet to be released.
Bugatti's La Voiture Noire is the rarest and most expensive of these exclusive cars, however.
Its lone buyer will have to dig deeper than most ever will ever earn in a lifetime to cover the shocking €16 million (RM77mil) pricetag that comes with owning the world's most expensive car.
But after a two-year wait, the reward is a 16-cylinder engine in a vehicle that bears only a passing resemblance to the carmaker's Chiron, which has undergone a radical remodelling.
