A 1997 McLaren F1 road car has achieved the record price of £2.53 million (3.2m Euros; 4.1m USD) at the Sotheby's/RM Automobiles of London auction held in London yesterday evening.

The car was one of 64 examples built by McLaren, and was the actual model that was on display in the McLaren F1 showroom in London's Park Lane for some years. It is therefore a very low-mileage example.

"With all the current talk of recession, it's heartening to have it confirmed that the McLaren F1 production cars, which we designed and built nearly 15 years ago now, remain among the very few automobiles that are still strongly appreciating in value," stated Group CEO Ron Dennis.

"But, more than anything else, I'm delighted for the McLaren F1s' owners, whose automotive assets are clearly very solid investments indeed," he added.

When new, the cars retailed at £634,500.