Hybrids may not be everyone’s favorite concept, especially when we’re talking corn, roses, or even some early gas-electric cars. Today, however, some pretty snazzy yachts and supercars are embracing the hybrid world and it doesn’t seem like the original owners will take a hit. Tulsa-based Leake Auction Company sold a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari for $3.7 million, including the buyer’s premium, on Saturday, April 22, 2017, in Dallas Market Hall, according to an email from Leake to Digital Trends.
The LaFerrari is a gas-electric hybrid. When you fire up the 788 horsepower V-12 gas engine and trip the 161-horsepower electric motor, a combined total of 949 horsepower and 663 foot-pounds of torque are available to haul it down the road. As you can imagine, the motion occurs with great alacrity should you stomp on it. From a standing start, you’ll see 60 mph in less than 3 seconds and if you keep going the top end is 214 mph.
Granted, the LaFerrari isn’t the fastest production car zero to 60. That honor currently belongs to the 2017 Tesla Model S P100D with a recorded 2.275 second time measured by Road and Track. When Road and Track tested the Tesla against a LaFerrari, a Porsche 918, and a McLaren P1, Tesla beat them all to 60, but the La Ferrari was faster to 70, and the LaFerrari, Porsche, and McLaren all beat the Tesla to 80 and beyond.
But there are no more new LaFerraris. LaFerrari was a strictly limited edition of 499 cars, with just one more built last year, number 500, for an auction to benefit Italian earthquake victims. That car went under the gavel in December 2016 for $7 million, but it was a special car sold under unusual circumstances.
The folks at Leake Auction Company are happy with the auction results. “We had an exciting day in Dallas Market Hall. This has been the most talked about car available for auction this weekend,” said Richard Sevenoaks, president of Leake Auction Company. “In the 45-year history of our company, this is the most expensive car we have ever sold. We are thrilled with the sale.”
