First established in 1963, the Italian car manufacturer has been dominating the market in speed and muscle auto for over 50 years now. It’s no secret that Lamborghinis are the go-to cars for status, style, and a good reputation. They are regularly mentioned in pop culture references, and name dropped even amongst non-car enthusiasts. The Italian super cars are regarded as some of the most powerful and fastest racing muscle cars of their kind, a reason why most A-list celebrities choose the Lamborghini name over other luxury car options. Famously known for using V12 engines in all their models, Lamborghini strives for speed, muscle as well as comfort and a smooth ride – and speaking of a smooth ride, with a 12-cylinder engine, there is a cylinder shooting every 60 degrees of rotation, making for an extremely fun, high performance drive.
Obviously such a well respected reputation comes with a steep price tag. Known for making some of the most luxurious sports cars on the market, Lamborghinis typically sit around $200,000 – $300,000 for most models. While it doesn’t compare to the $19 million dollar Bugatti price tag that most would be willing to pay, it does still come with quite a hefty dent in the wallet. Typically, $200,000 – $300,000 can be anywhere from a base model to a used model, but what is the most expensive Lamborghini on the market? When choosing to purchase one of these beautiful Italian masterpieces, what is considered to be ‘top shelf’? The most expensive Lamborghini ever sold in the market, for $8.4 million, is the Lamborghini Veneno Roadster.
The Lamborghini Veneno Roadster
The ‘Veneno’ meaning ‘venom’ in Spanish, many would choose to pick this roadster as their poison any day. Only three cars were designed out of this series, one being the Veneno Roadster, the most expensive Lamborghini in the world. This model was released at Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary show in 2014 with only nine models produced for the market. The Veneno Roadster is a convertible and uses carbon fiber to reduce its weight and improve its overall aerodynamics – an upgrade from the original Veneno. But that’s not the only upgrade we got from the Veneno. The Veneno Roadster can reach 0-60 in only 2.9 seconds, and a top speed of 220mph thanks to its impressive V12, 6.5-liter and 750HP packed super engine.
The engine was a development of the Aventador’s 6.5-liter V12 engine but comes with an increase in power output achieved by enlarging air intake and making change modifications to the entire exhaust system (1). Inspired by sports prototype designs, the Veneno Roadster is essentially Lamborghini’s interpretation of a racing prototype built for everyday roads. Lamborghini has always designed their cars with a signature arrow-shape front and nose to increase speed performance. The Veneno Roadster holds true to this with minor tweaks to the front to improve aerodynamics.
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The Lamborghini Veneno Roadster combines their brilliant aerodynamic efficiency and need for speed and takes it onto everyday roads. This super sport racing prototype guarantees optimal performance and stability on fast turns, giving sports-driving lovers a car with racing behaviors devised for the streets. The Veneno Roadster with its state-of-the-art design inspired by speed and muscle gives drivers the indescribable feeling of flying through the streets. Staying faithful to the Lamborghini name, the Veneno Roadster holds sharp lines and the iconic arrow-shape front close to its roots. Although very similar to the classic Veneno, the Veneno Roadster has been upgraded with deeper cuts, stronger lines, and tight, sleek surfaces to improve aerodynamics.
Similar to its Lamborghini Aventador sister, the Veneno Roadster comes with carbon fiber monocoque chassis as well as an aluminum front and rear subframe. It is also complete with a pushrod suspension system, another characteristic carried over from the Aventador. The interior now includes what Lamborghini has coined as the ‘carbon skin’, meaning they have upgraded the interior to a sleek all black design with the highest quality Italian leather and materials – a detail we first saw in the Aventador J model. The Veneno Roadster has also held on to the 7-speed ISR automated manual transmission and now includes a new ‘track’ setting for faster speed and improved performance if you ever want to flex the Roadster powerful engine muscle.
The Original Sticker Price was $4.5 Million
If the original sticker price was only $4.5 Million, how is the Veneno Roadster the most expensive Lamborghini ever sold? The particular beige Roadster model that was, and still is, one of the most sought after and expensive models was the one owned by Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea and son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. In 2016, an investigation into the lifestyle of Mangue took place as he was accused by the authorities of using his access
to public money to pay for his extremely lavish lifestyle. At that time his Lamboghini Veneno Roadster was seized by Swiss authorities along with a LaFerrari, Koenigsegg One:1, an Aston Martin One-77, and a Bugatti Veyron. He eventually reached an agreement with the Swiss authorities to sell the seized luxury cars. At the auction, the LaFerrari sold for $2.19M, the Koenigsegg One:1 for $4.6M, the Aston Martin One-77 went for $1.55M, and the Bugatti Veyron sold for $1.31M.
The Veneno Roadster was in top condition, not a scratch on it. The Veneno Roadster was sold at the auction in Switzerland for a whopping $8.3 million dollars, the most expensive Lamborghini ever sold at an auction. The car had only been driven 202 miles, still had its factory tires on, and the interior was still completely brand new. The anonymous buyer also acquired a matching beige car cover for the Roadster as well as all the tools and manuals that came with it originally. With only nine Roadster models ever produced it will be a long time before we see this model for sale, if we ever do again. Due to the high status of Mangue and the white-collar scandal he was involved in, as well as the exclusivity of this particular Lamborghini could be the reason of its extremely high price tag. Nevertheless, the Veneno Roadster is a magnificent Italian piece of art that is sought after by car enthusiasts and collectors around the world today.
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