No other vehicle was anywhere near the NZ$4 million tag, the spokesman said.

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford agreed.

“I’ve not heard of one more expensive. If there is, I don’t know of it. I don’t know of any new cars that cost that much but certain models are very collectable,” Crawford said.

The unusual sleek black car was sold brand new for NZ$2.8 million six years ago to the late Neil Graham of Christchurch, who cofounded global logistics business Mainfreight.

The vehicle is now at Giltrap’s new showroom in its just-opened NZ$40 million 119GNR premises at 119 Great North Rd, Newton.

The Giltrap spokesman said the car was NZ$4 million because it is one of only 77 vehicles made and was introduced to the world at the 2008 Paris Motor Show where only a portion was unveiled. It was likely to continue to appreciate in value, he said.

Marketed at the time as the fastest Aston Martin of all time, it packs a powerful 7.3L V12 under its bonnet, going from zero to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds, with a top speed of 354kmh, weighing 1630kg. The 77 cars were made between 2010 and 2012. The vehicle in Auckland has just 9860km on the clock, has a petrol motor and was manufactured in 2011. The cash price includes GST.

Aston Martin New Zealand reportedly sent a technician to the UK with Graham to inspect it. The vehicle did not come here via ship like most car imports but instead arrived in Auckland on board a Singapore Airlines 747.

In 2011, the late Graham got possession of the two-door coupe with carbon fibre monocoque chassis and hand-crafted aluminium body.

Motor vehicle dealership founder Sir Colin Giltrap and his sons Richard and Michael are in their new state-of-the-art premises designed by Warren and Mahoney and the car is on the showroom floor there.

Lead architect on the project Jonathan Hewlett said the new premises were the Auckland home to Italy’s Lamborghini and British luxury marques Aston Martin and Bentley as well as Giltrap Group’s new headquarters.

The NZ$4 million price tag pales into insignificance when compared to another sale of the same brand of car: Giltrap said in August that the most expensive British car sold at auction was the Aston Martin DBR1 racing car which went for more than US$22 million.

Last year, Highlands Motorsport Complex owner Tony Quinn was reported to have paid NZ$4.2 million for a limited edition track-only Aston Martin Vulcan. The One-77 for sale is a road car, not a track vehicle.

Mieke Welvaert of Infometrics said new car sales in New Zealand rose 1.6 per cent in the September year, which was meagre “although the result was an improvement on the previous two months of negative annual growth”.