Unique car number plate 'P7' sold for Rs 122 crore at Dubai auction

The most expensive car number plate in the world was sold for a whopping 55 million Dirhams (over Rs 122 crore) at an auction in Dubai. The number ‘P7’ set the Guinness World Record for the most expensive car number plate in the world at the ‘Most Noble Numbers’ charity auction on Saturday.

In the auction, bidders tried to break the previous record set in 2008. The record was held by Abu Dhabi's number ‘1’ car plate which was sold for 52.2 million Dirhams (approximately Rs 116.3 crore), according to reports.

The auction for the VIP number ‘P7’ was started with the host saying, “Sixteen years ago, a world record was set in Abu Dhabi when a number plate was sold for 52.5 million dirhams. Will we set a new world record?”

The auction was held at Four Seasons Resort in the Jumeirah region of Dubai. The auction kicked off with a starting bid of 15 million Dirhams and within a few seconds, the bid jumped to 30 million Dirhams.

After a brief slowdown at the 35 million Dirham mark, which was placed by the founder of the Telegram app Pavel Valeryevich Durov the auction picked up the pace again and the bidding amount reached 55 million Dirhams by Panel 7, who chose to be anonymous.

The bid closed at this sum and celebrations began with large crowds gathering around the successful bidder.

In addition to the ‘P7’ number, several other unique number plates including ten two-digit plates such as AA19, AA22, AA80, O71, and X36 were auctioned and special plates like Y900, Q22222, and Y6666 were also sold, according to reports.

Another notable bid was for the ‘AA19’ number plate, which sold for 4.9 million Dirhams.

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Apart from car number plates, the unique mobile numbers were also sold at the charity auction which in total generated 53 million dirhams.

The “Most Noble Numbers” charity auction was organised in support of the “1 Billion Meals Endowment” campaign launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The initiative is aimed at creating the largest Ramadan sustainable food aid endowment fund.