Costly Cars: World’s Most Expensive Autos

The world’s most expensive automobiles are custom-tweaked European sports cars built for the rich and famous. We call them supercars because they are at the top of their class in just about every category (except, perhaps, fuel economy). Taking the lead so far for 2014 are all-new products from Lamborghini, Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg.

2014 Lamborghini Veneno

For 2014, Lamborghini is celebrating its 50th anniversary and the supercar maker has decided to debut a special edition open-racing prototype named after a homicidal bull. The Veneno was born with the ambition of making a Le Mans-worthy racecar that’s actually legal to hit the highway.

The Veneno borrows an especially aggressive drivetrain from the Aventador, but souped-up for a top speed of 220 mph. You can accelerate from a standstill to sixty mph in a breathtaking three seconds. A work of aerodynamic genius, the Italian supercar is made almost entirely of carbon fiber. It has an extravagant starting price of $4.5 million. Just nine of these exquisite, pricey roadsters will be made.

2014 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse

Lamborghini may be the most expensive, but that doesn’t mean it’s the fastest kid on the block. The French are one-upping the Italians with the ‘fastest production roadster in the world.’ Bugatti’s newest sixteen-cylinder Veyron boasts a top speed of 255.5 mph. It’s one of the few cars on the planet boasting a horsepower over 1,000. For 2014, the convertible makes an astonishing 1,200 hp.

Imagine insuring a new supercar like the Veyron. For such a highly specialized sports machine, specialty insurance is the ticket. Of course, specialty servicing is mandatory, too. You couldn’t take the Grand Sport Vitesse to just any old mechanic—this car needs a trained and certified specialist to maintain. The starting price for a Vitesse is $2.5 million.

2014 Koenigsegg Agera S

For now, the Swedish-made Agera S slots in behind the Veyron for sheer horsepower, but a prototype in the works will reportedly smash the record with a face-melting 1,400 hp. Still, the current model makes over 1,000 horsepower with half as many cylinders as the Veyron.

The Agera S has just been made available in the U.S. in the last few months and it’s already generating buzz. With a zero-to-sixty time of 2.9 seconds or, if you like, a 0-to-188-mph time of less than 23 seconds, much of it is the buzz in your ear as it whips past you. The starting price for the Agera S is $1,520,000

Though most can never even dream of owning such a splendid machine as any of the above listed cars, for some they can become a prized possession. If you end up owning a supercar, a license renewal specialist from Registrations Are Us recommends familiarizing yourself with your region’s traffic laws to ensure you operate your vehicle safely and responsibly. The last thing you want to do, once you’ve secured a top-of-the-line supercar, is lose it to a wreck or the impound lot.