A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe sold for €135 million ($142m) in a secret auction in Germany on May 5, Mercedes-Benz chairman Ola Kaellenius has confirmed.
While higher-priced deals may have taken place privately, the sale by the car company crushed the previous public record of $48.4m paid in 2018 for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO at an RM Sotheby’s auction.
“We [wanted], with one single act, to demonstrate the power of the Mercedes brand,” Mr Kaellenius said on May 18 near Monte Carlo.
The arrow-shaped silver coupe, one of only two produced, was never privately owned until the sale.
“That car is 100 per cent worth what it sold for and some people would tell you even that number was low,” says Stephen Serio, a broker who finds rare cars for super-wealthy clients.
“Nobody ever thought Mercedes would sell it.”
Mr Kaellenius declines to name the winner of the auction, which included about a dozen invited bidders at Mercedes’ museum and archive in Stuttgart, Germany.
Swiss-Italian, English and American Mercedes-Benz aficionados had been floated as possible buyers for what would be any car collector’s Moby Dick.
But Mr Kaellenius says he was very pleased with the result, a sum that put the brand “on a different planet” from competitor Ferrari.
The value of the SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe derives from its extraordinary rarity and its significance to the origin story of the Mercedes brand.
A descendant of the so-called Silver Arrow cars that dominated racing in the 1930s, the front-engined 300 SLR was closely based on the eight-cylinder Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula One car driven by Argentinian star Juan Manuel Fangio to win world championships in 1954 and 1955.
But it had an even bigger, 3.0-litre engine and the moniker "SLR," which came from the German term sport leicht rennen, or sport light racing.
Of the nine 300 SLR cars made, two were special SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe prototypes named after Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Mercedes’ head of the test department.
He drove one as a company car. Mercedes-Benz squirrelled the second away in the company vault.
“The reason for a high price would simply be that they are never sold,” said Karl Ludvigsen, the author of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix W196: Spectacular Silver Arrows, 1954-1955, in a Hagerty report about the vehicle.
Ludvigsen called the auction a “huge sensation.”
The car will remain on display with the second SLR coupe at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, Mr Kaellenius says, which was a condition of the sale.
The new owner will be able to drive it occasionally, a representative confirmed.
Proceeds of the sale will be seed money to establish the Mercedes-Benz Fund, a non-profit entity managed within the company to provide educational scholarships in fields relating to sustainability, engineering, maths and science.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
