The quarter in brief
The collector and exotic car market opened 2025 in resilient form. Auction houses cleared $767.7M across 8,030 sold lots, up approximately 1% against Q1 2024 on both a gross and a like-for-like basis. As is customary for the quarter, the figure rests largely on January, when the Scottsdale season in Arizona drew the deepest collector capital.
$767.7M
Q1 2025 auction value
Across 8,030 sold lots, up 1% year over year (+1% like-for-like)
$36.2M
Top lot: Ferrari 250 LM
At RM Sotheby's; the quarter's apex, up from a $12.1M top a year earlier
$463M
January's share of value
60% of the quarter, from the Scottsdale season
The public-market backdrop: the showroom vs. the saleroom
The collector market did not track the showroom. Through the first quarter the listed performance makers came under pressure, culminating in a late-March announcement of a 25% US tariff on imported automobiles that sent the whole sector lower: Ferrari fell roughly 5% over the quarter and Porsche about 21%, the latter compounded by margin warnings and China weakness. The physical assets, by contrast, held their value.
Collector-car auction value held its level in Q1 2025 (+1% year over year) even as the listed performance makers fell, Ferrari about 5% and Porsche 21%, on the late-March 25% US auto-tariff and softer guidance. The hard asset held while the equities that build it de-rated.
Source: Yahoo Finance closing prices (31 Dec 2024 to 31 Mar 2025); ALT/FNDATA auction value.
The broad collector market was steady rather than spectacular, the Hagerty Market Rating posting its first monthly rise in ten months in January before resuming a gradual slide. But at the top, scarcity held: the Scottsdale sales cleared at 2024 levels and the marquee Ferraris set the pace. The decoupling is one of asset versus equity, a blue-chip collector car trading on heritage, not on the carmakers' tariff arithmetic.
The signal
When the listed makers de-rate on tariffs and EV demand, the blue-chip collector car behaves as a hard asset, set by scarcity and heritage. In Q1 2025 collector value held its level even as Ferrari and Porsche shares fell on the new tariff.
Month by month (Q1 2025)
January: the Scottsdale season
January carried the quarter, roughly $463M across 5,472 sold lots, driven by the Arizona auction season at Mecum and Barrett-Jackson. The quarter's top lots hammered around this period, led by the $36.2M Ferrari 250 LM.
February: the marquee sales
February cleared approximately $185M across 913 lots, as RM Sotheby's and the Florida sales added the bulk of the quarter's seven-figure results, including a $13.2M Ford GT40 Mk II.
March: Amelia and the spring
March settled to approximately $120M across 1,645 lots, with the Amelia Island sales contributing the spring's marquee lots, a $9.5M Ferrari 375 MM among them, even as some results came in below estimate.
What moved the market
By volume the American mass-luxury marques predominated, with Chevrolet (1,978 lots) and Ford (1,287) at the muscle-and-truck core of the Scottsdale circuit. By capital the picture inverts: just 172 Ferrari lots carried roughly $110M, the highest value of any marque, ahead of Chevrolet ($178M on far more lots), Ford ($112M) and Porsche ($47M).
Volume vs. value
The divergence between volume and value defines the quarter. The volume is American, concentrated in Scottsdale muscle and trucks; the marquee capital is Italian, concentrated in a small number of historic Ferraris at RM Sotheby's and Gooding.
The premium for time
The pinnacle cars shared a single attribute: age. The 250 LM, the GT40 Mk II and the 375 MM are 20th-century machines. The premium for historical rarity substantially exceeds the premium for raw modern performance.
Year over year: Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2025
A year-over-year comparison shows a market that held its level. Both volume and value rose modestly, and on a like-for-like basis, controlling for the houses present in both quarters, value gained approximately 1%. The collector market neither advanced nor retreated as the year began.
| Metric | Q1 2024 | Q1 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold auction lots | 7,532 | 8,030 | +7% |
| Total value (USD) | $759.5M | $767.7M | +1% |
| Like-for-like value | $759.5M | $767.1M | +1% |
| Top marquee lot | $12.1M | $36.2M | +199% |
The top lot rose sharply, from a $12.1M high in Q1 2024 to the $36.2M Ferrari 250 LM, an increase that reflects the singular quality of that car rather than a broad revaluation. The truer read is the aggregate, which held, the collector market entering 2025 on stable footing before the spring de-rating in the equities.
What the first quarter signals
Q1 2025 reinforces a market driven by heritage and scarcity rather than by the macroeconomic cycle. Three patterns are likely to carry forward:
Scarcity outweighs the cycle
Capital concentrates in finite, historic supply, pre-1975 Ferraris above all. The 250 LM led the quarter at $36.2M, the asymmetric returns accruing to unrepeatable 20th-century icons rather than to the new-car cycle.
The calendar is the cycle
Volume and value move with the sale season. January's Scottsdale week carried roughly 60% of the quarter; the rhythm of the auction calendar, not the macroeconomy, governs the collector-car market.
Decoupled from the showroom
Collector value held firm even as a new 25% US auto-tariff sent Ferrari and Porsche shares lower. The blue-chip collector car trades on heritage and scarcity, not on the carmakers' tariff arithmetic.
The collector car opened 2025 having held its ground while the listed performance makers de-rated on a new tariff. The Scottsdale season carried the quarter, scarcity set the ceiling at Maranello, and the finite pool of 20th-century landmark machinery proved, as ever, decoupled from the headlines. Advantage accrues to those who hold rarity and read the auction calendar.
“The year opened on the strength of Scottsdale and the scarcity of Maranello: collector value held its level as a $36.2M Ferrari led the quarter, even as a new tariff sent the carmakers' shares lower.”
Methodology & about
Methodology
This report is based on ALT/FNDATA's record of collector and exotic cars cleared at auction worldwide, filtered to completed auction sales (excluding unsold or withdrawn lots). Q1 2025 reflects 8,030 sold lots ($767.7M); Q1 2024, 7,532 ($759.5M). Because the set of houses tracked shifts from quarter to quarter, year-over-year change is reported both gross (value +1%, volume +7%) and on a like-for-like basis for the 16 houses present in both quarters (value +1%), the latter being the cleaner read. Values are realized prices converted to USD at nearest-date exchange rates. Automaker figures are Q1 2025 share-price and results data as reported by the issuers and the financial press.
ALT/FNDATA is a market-data platform tracking 13M+ auction results across 100+ houses worldwide: the neutral, cross-market record of what luxury and alternative assets actually sell for at the hammer, not asking prices.
Cite this report
Source: ALT/FNDATA, “Q1 2025 Report: The Collector & Exotic Car Market” (June 2026). Based on auction-realized prices for collector and exotic cars cleared at the auction houses ALT/FNDATA tracks, with public-market context from Q1 2025 automaker performance. © 2026 ALT/FNDATA · altfndata.com/reports/collector-car-market-report-q1-2025
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