ALT/FNDATA · Market Report
Q1 2025 Report: The Collector & Exotic Car Market
Auction-realized prices and the public-market backdrop
A resilient opening quarter built on the January Scottsdale sales: collector-car value held its level year over year and a Ferrari 250 LM led at $36.2M, even as the listed performance makers fell on a new US auto-tariff.
The headline
The correction in three numbers
$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
Auction-realized prices: what collector cars actually sold for at the hammer, not asking prices. · 10M+ auction results · 100+ houses.
Key findings
What the quarter told us
- A resilient open: Q1 2025 cleared $767.7M across 8,030 sold lots, up approximately 1% year over year on both a gross and a like-for-like basis. The collector market held its level as the year began.
- January was the quarter. The Scottsdale season carried roughly $463M, about 60% of the total, with Mecum ($257M) and Barrett-Jackson ($203M) leading the Arizona sales.
- Scarcity set the ceiling, and it was Italian. A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM led the quarter at $36.2M at RM Sotheby's, well above the $12.1M top of Q1 2024, with a Ford GT40 Mk II ($13.2M) and a Ferrari 375 MM ($9.5M) following.
- Ferrari concentrated the capital: 172 Ferrari lots carried roughly $110M, the highest value of any marque, while Chevrolet (1,978 lots, $178M) and Ford (1,287 lots, $112M) supplied the volume.
- The houses mirrored the split: Mecum and Barrett-Jackson moved the Scottsdale volume, while RM Sotheby's ($170M across 266 lots) concentrated the marquee value.
- The showroom and the saleroom decoupled. Collector value held even as a late-March 25% US auto-tariff sent the listed performance makers lower, Ferrari about 5% and Porsche 21% over the quarter. The hard asset traded apart from the equities that build it.
Year-over-year
Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2025
Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2025: sold collector-car lots at auction (like-for-like = the 16 houses that cleared lots in both quarters)
| 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 divergence
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 outlook
Three trends that will define the year
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 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.”
Members only
Read the full report
The headline data above is free to cite. The full report is part of ALT/FNDATA Membership, which includes every quarterly market report and the Visual Analytics Hub. Inside this report:
- The full month-by-month breakdown (the January Scottsdale season and after)
- Showroom vs. saleroom: the automaker backdrop in Q1 2025
- Marque analysis: where the volume and the capital actually went
- Methodology and how to cite the data
Please enter a valid email address.
Thanks, your summary is on its way
We’ll email you the executive summary and keep you posted on new reports. The full report is available with ALT/FNDATA Membership.
Become a member to read the full report →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