Illustration: Lionel Messi (Photo: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) with a 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Spider Scaglietti, chassis 0674, which is not his car (Photo: Mr.choppers / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0).
Few athletes have had more cars pinned to their name than Lionel Messi, and few have said less about them. Most “Messi car collection” lists online stack up the same dozen vehicles and a headline number north of $40 million, but the paper trail behind them is uneven. Some cars have registrations, sale listings, or auction records. Others trace back to a single viral report that Messi himself mocked. His Instagram reply to the biggest one involved a toy Lightning McQueen, which tells you how seriously to take the list.
The lead image is an illustration: a photo of Messi blended with a photo of a 1957 Ferrari 335 S. The car shown is not his, and there’s no evidence he owns one.
1. RUMOR: The $35.7 million Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti
This is the car that inflates every Messi garage estimate. In February 2016, a 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti sold at the Rétromobile show in Paris for about €32 million, roughly $35.7 million, making it one of the most expensive cars ever auctioned. The car has serious racing history, including Stirling Moss’s win at the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix, and it is powered by a 4.0-liter V12.
Within days, reports claimed Messi was the buyer and had outbid Cristiano Ronaldo to get it. Messi answered on Instagram with a photo of himself holding a toy Lightning McQueen from Pixar’s Cars, labeling it his new car, as Bleacher Report and CarBuzz covered at the time. The real buyer was never publicly named. Rétromobile is still where big money moves, as our look at Billy Joel’s no-reserve auction shows, but there’s nothing linking this Ferrari to Messi beyond the original rumor.
2. RUMOR: A Pagani Zonda Tricolore
The second pillar of most Messi lists is a Pagani Zonda Tricolore, a hypercar built to honor Italy’s Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team, with only a handful made and a 7.3-liter Mercedes-AMG V12 behind the seats. It routinely appears in roundups of his most valuable cars, yet Yahoo Autos notes the direct evidence is limited. There’s no registration, no photo of Messi driving one, and no statement from Pagani.
What is real is a Messi-themed Zonda that isn’t a car at all. In December 2024, collector Jorge Gomez and Uruguayan artist Joaquín Arbiza showed a full-size Zonda sculpture built from 100,000 Uruguayan coins, with Messi’s face on the hood, at the Miami Concours Art Week Cars & Coffee, Supercar Blondie reported. For a real Zonda story with a confirmed paper trail, see the one-off Zonda Kunlun that resurfaced in Hong Kong.
3. FACT: A white Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale
This is one of the best-documented cars in the garage. Messi was photographed with a white GranTurismo MC Stradale, the track-focused version of Maserati’s grand tourer with a 4.7-liter V8 making about 444 hp. In January 2017, autoevolution reported that a 2012 example listed on mobile.de for €119,900 with 46,000 km was his former car, sold with Spanish registration and finished originally in Bianco Eldorado white.
By the time it hit the market, a later owner had added red badges and trim. Messi had nothing to do with that part.
4. FACT: A 2021 Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupé from his last Barcelona season
The most verifiable recent entry is a 2021 Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupé that Messi used during his final season at Barcelona in 2020–21. In April 2026, the SUV was offered by SBX Cars with about 14,173 miles on it and an estimate of roughly £100,000, Goal reported. Originally registered in Barcelona and later based in Berlin, it uses a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 rated at 453 hp.
5. FACT, WITH AN ASTERISK: The Barcelona Audis
During his Barcelona years, Messi was regularly seen in Audis, including the Q7, RS6, and A7. That part is well documented. The asterisk is that Audi was a longtime club sponsor that supplied cars to the first-team squad, so these were tied to the partnership rather than proof of personal purchases. They show up on nearly every Messi list, though, and he clearly drove them.
6. MOSTLY FACT: A Cadillac Escalade in Miami
Since joining Inter Miami in 2023, Messi’s public car life has gotten noticeably quieter. The vehicle he’s most often linked to in South Florida is a Cadillac Escalade, a big, practical family SUV that fits a dad with three sons more than a hypercar does. Reports and fan videos have shown him driving one around town, though the exact model year and whether it’s owned or provided hasn’t been confirmed.
7. RUMOR: A Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The gullwing SLS AMG, with its 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8, has long been associated with Messi’s garage. Many lists, including Goal’s collection roundup, include it. But there’s no sale record, registration, or verified photo of him with one that we could find.
8. RUMOR: A Ferrari F430 Spider
The F430 Spider is another “widely reported” car. It would fit the era, a mid-2000s Ferrari with a 4.3-liter V8 and a folding soft top, and it gets repeated from list to list. What it doesn’t have is evidence. Unlike the Maserati, no former-owner listing has surfaced.
9. RUMOR: A pair of Range Rovers
A Range Rover Sport and a Range Rover Vogue are often credited to Messi as family haulers from his Barcelona days. They’re plausible and unflashy, which is part of why the claim sticks, but they remain associations rather than documented ownership.
10. RUMOR: The budget filler, from a Lexus hybrid to a Mini Cooper
Messi lists often round things out with modest cars, including a Lexus RX 450h hybrid and a Mini Cooper. These entries make the garage feel relatable. None of them have a clear source.
11. RUMOR: A $40 million-plus collection
Headlines often value the collection at $40 million or more. The math only works if you count the $35.7 million Ferrari, which Messi publicly laughed off. Remove it, and the documented cars, a Maserati, a Porsche, and some sponsor-supplied Audis, add up to a nice garage for a pro athlete, not a museum.
The bottom line
Messi’s verified car history is shorter and more practical than the internet suggests: a Maserati with a sale listing, a Porsche with an auction record, club Audis, and a Cadillac for Miami family life. The headline-grabbing Ferrari and Pagani rest on reports he has never confirmed, and in the Ferrari’s case, he openly mocked. Which is more likely to show up in his Miami driveway first: a Zonda, or a second Escalade?
For more celebrity garages sorted into fact and fiction, read Sydney Sweeney’s car collection, Tom Holland’s car collection, and 10 celebrities with the best car collections.
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