Alfa Romeo’s B.A.T Concepts Just Sold For $14.84 Million At Auction

The three Alfa Romeo B.A.T. concepts have sold for a combined $14.84 million during an RM Sotheby’s online auction event.

The Alfa Romero B.A.T. 5, B.A.T. 9 and B.A.T. 9d were designed by Franco Scaglione and handbuilt by Bertone. They were introduced at the 1953, 1954, and 1955 editions of the Turin Auto Show and considered so important that RM Sotheby’s deemed it necessary to sell all three as a single lot, rather than selling them individually.

Pre-auction estimates suggested they would sell for between $14 million and $20 million.

“The sale of the B.A.T. concept cars during Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale represents the second time RM Sotheby’s has offered a motor car as part of a Sotheby’s art sale—the first time being when we sold the Michael Schumacher Ferrari F2001 Formula 1 race car in 2017,” RM Sotheby’s chief marketing officer Ian Kelleher said in a statement.

Read More: Alfa Romeo’s Three B.A.T. Concepts Could Fetch $20 Million

“No other organization in the world has a client base as far-reaching as Sotheby’s and since we have worked so closely and successfully with them in the past, working with them again on the sale of the B.A.T. trio made perfect sense. Last evening’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction was a perfectly executed example of cross-category collaboration by the market leaders in both cars and fine arts and served as further evidence of RM Sotheby’s expertise and leadership in the market for bringing important automobiles to auction.”

The original B.A.T. 5 was designed as a concept aimed at maximizing airflow and was an immediate icon. The following year, Scaglione created the B.A.T. 7, also using the running gear of an Alfa Romeo 1900. Painted in a bright shade of blue, the B.A.T. 7 is well known for its iconic tailfins. The B.A.T. 9 was introduced in 1955 and has a slightly less overt design with small rear fins and a recognizable Alfa Romeo front grille.