Now that we’re halfway through the 2020s, it’s safe to say that the decade has been very good for the secondary premium automobile market.
Like other collectibles, high-end cars, specifically those commanding sums of six figures or more, saw their values rise during the first few years of the decade. There’s no better example of this than the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupe,” which became the most expensive auction car of all time when it sold for RM624.09 million in 2022, shattering the previous mark by more than RM395.55 million. Things have settled down, but a look at the results from any of the year’s big sales will show you lots that have commanded seven (or even eight) figure gavel prices.
The valuation experts at Hagerty recently ran the numbers for Robb Report to see just well how collectible cars have fared this decade. Using information gathered from auctions and public sales, along with the expertise it has gained insuring premium automobiles, the company found that cars valued at RM439,500 or more at the start of the decade have appreciated by 10.6 percent on average over the last five years.
Unsurprisingly, some of the vehicles that have fared best are made by Ferrari. If you look at the 10 high-end cars that have appreciated the most this decade, half are Prancing Horses, with models as diverse as the F355 and F40 making the cut. The marque remains the premier sports car maker, and its vehicles will continue to command interest as long as this remains the case.
“Ferrari has done a masterful job of understanding who they are, and then they’re constantly building the products that live up to that expectation,” Brian Rabold, Hagerty’s vice president of automotive intelligence, told Robb Report.
Ferrari wasn’t the only blue-blood to make the list. Cars from Porsche (the Carrera GT and the final air-cooled 911) and Lamborghini (the Miura) also cracked the top 10. But two marques not normally associated with the collectable car market, Lexus and Acura, are also represented. Their presence highlights how the market has begun to change in the 2020s. A new generation of collectors has entered the market and brought a new set of priorities. They’re interested in different marques, as well as models that their predecessors passed over. The fact that so many of the top 10 are noted for their driving dynamics and feature manual transmissions also suggests that this new breed of collector is driving their cars, not just putting them on display.
“A lot of times the newer, newer buyers who might be getting interested in it don’t have that same baggage,” Rabold said.
With all that in mind, here are the 10 collectable cars that have seen their value increase the most through the first half of the decade.
Ferrari F355 | Up 142 per cent
For the longest time, the Ferrari F355 sat as one of the more unloved Prancing Horses of modern era. But, a quarter century after going out of production, attitudes have changed. A big reason is that its design, which still feels as if it’s being tugged between the 1980s and 2000s, has finally started to grow on people. Enthusiasts have also come to realize that it offers significantly better performance than its predecessor, the V-8-powered 348. Finally, a majority of the examples from the production run come with a traditional six-speed manual gearbox as opposed to the F1-derived automated manual paddle-shift transmission found in later versions of the model. Combine those factors and you have yourself a car that has seen its value jump by 142 per cent over the last five years.
Production Years: 1994 to 1999
Engine: 3.5-litre V-8
Power: 375 hp and 363 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 4.7 seconds
Top Speed: 294 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM502,650
Current Price: RM1.2 million
Appreciation since 2018: 142 per cent
Production Years: 1985 to 1989
Engine: 3.2‑litre V-8
Power: 266 hp and 304 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 5.5 seconds
Top Speed: 267 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM485,550
Current Price: RM1.1 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 124 per cent
Ferrari F40 | Up 116 per cent
There’s nothing like a Ferrari halo car, and, of the sextet, there’s none as revered as the F40. The last car that founder Enzo Ferrari personally approved was designed to celebrate the automaker’s 40th anniversary—hence the name—and to beat the Porsche supercar of the era, the 959. The car features a bold design that looks as fresh today as it did way back in 1987. Its 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 isn’t so bad either. The mid-mounted mill, which is mated to a five-speed manual, generates 471 horses, thanks to which it was the first street-legal car to break 322 kmph. It’s also rare, with only 1,315 leaving Maranello during the six years it was in production. F40 examples were already selling for seven figures at the start of the decade, but five years later they cost a whole lot more.
Production Years: 1987 to 1992
Engine: 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V-8
Power: 471 hp and 578 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 4.1 seconds
Top Speed: 323 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM1.6 million
Current Price: RM3.5 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 116 per cent
Lamborghini Miura | Up 113 per cent
The 2020s have been very good to Lamborghini. It seems like a year can’t pass without the Italian automaker setting another sales record. But it’s not just new Raging Bulls that have caught the eyes of collectors; the brand’s earlier models have as well. Chief among those is its first supercar, the Miura. Introduced in 1966, the coupe doesn’t have the wedge shape most closely associated with Lamborghini, but it does feature a curvy Marcello Gandini-penned design that has passed the test of time. It’s mid-mounted 3.9-liter V-12 is no slouch, either. The mid-mounted V-12 may not be as much of a work of art, but it is more than powerful enough (380 hp, to be exact) to push the car to a top speed of 171 mph. With only 764 examples of the two-door having escaped the factory, it’s little wonder its price has more than doubled over the last five years.
Production Years: 1966 to 1973
Engine: 3.9-liter
Power: 380 hp and 400 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 6.7 seconds
Top Speed: 275 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM6.4 million
Current Price: RM13.6 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 113 per cent
Lexus LFA | Up 112 per cent
The newest car on this list, the Lexus LFA, is also one that collectors and enthusiasts almost universally agree is a true classic. The automotive press was less convinced when the car debuted at the end of the aughts. Much of the skepticism was due to preconceived notions of what a Lexus could be. The LFA shattered them because the car, as Akio Toyoda promised, was a genuine match for the very best sports cars coming out of Europe at the time—and in the years since. This is due in no small part to its legendary 4.8-liter V-10, which produces 553 horses and emits one of the greatest engine noises of all time. By 2020, the collectible car market had caught on and the LFA regularly fetching close to double its RM1.7 million starting price, but five years later gavel prices are closer to four times that sum.
Production Years: 2010 to 2012
Engine: 4.8-liter V-10
Power: 553 hp and 480 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 3.6 seconds
Top Speed: 326 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM3.1 million
Current Price: RM6.6 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 112 per cent
Ferrari Testarossa | Up 101 per cent
It should come as no surprise that one of the defining poster cars of the 1980s made this list. The Gen Xers and Millennials who had the Ferrari Testarossa on their walls in the 1980s now have enough money to have one sitting in their garage. But it’s not just nostalgia that’s pushed this Prancing Horse’s value to double over the past five years. The Testarossa, with its smooth flowing lines and trademark “cheese grater” side strakes, is also one of the most visually distinctive cars of its era. It also had plenty of power sitting in its engine bay. The one-time Ferrari flagship—and its immediate successors, the 512 TR and 512 M—was powered by a mid-mounted V-12 that makes over 430 hp in its most potent iteration, enough to push the car to 60 in less than five seconds on its way to a top speed of 196 mph.
Production Years: 1985 to 1996
Engine: 4.9-liter V-12
Power: 434 hp and 502 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 4.7 seconds
Top Speed: 315 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM788,400
Current Price: RM1.6 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 101 per cent
Porsche Carrera GT | Up 88 per cent
There’s a good case to be made for the Porsche Carrera GT as the purest distillation of the supercar concept. The model was introduced in 2004, just before software started automating more and more of the driving experience. Also, it only comes equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox, making it the sort of vehicle that purists dream about. But don’t take all this to mean that the Carrera GT is just some nostalgic throwback. Despite its analog nature, it’s a thoroughly modern speed machine cable of eclipsing 200 mph thanks to its potent (and naturally aspirated) V-10. Add that all together and you have what might be the most collectible Porsche of the 21st century.
Production Years: 2004 to 2006
Engine: 5.7-liter V-10
Power: 603 hp and 590 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 3.6 seconds
Top Speed: 330 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM4.4 million
Current Price: RM8.3 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 88 per cent
Acura NSX (First-Generation Refresh) | Up 74 per cent
This decade has seen collectors catch on to something enthusiasts already knew: the first-generation Acura NSX is one of the best cars of the last 30 years. The NSX, like the LFA after it, faced a lot of undue skepticism when it debuted in 1990 because it was unlike anything else Acura (or parent company Honda, which sold the model outside of North America) had produced. Not only is the low-slung coupe one of the best-looking vehicles of the 1990s and 2000s, it also delivers the kind of top-notch performance you expect from a halo car. This is especially true of the refreshed version sold between 1997 and 2005, which features a bigger V-6 (this one had a displacement of 3.2 liters, compared to the earlier 3.0 liters) that kicked out 290 hp. This collective realization has seen the average price of an NSX increase by 74 per cent over the last five years, but that’s unlikely to deter anyone who considers it a dream car.
Production Years: 1997 to 2005
Engine: 3.2-liter V-6
Power: 290 hp and 304 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 4.5 seconds
Top Speed: 282 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM530,100
Current Price: RM922,500
Appreciation Since 2018: 74 per cent
Porsche 911 (993 Generation) | Up 73 per cent
Were this list twice as long, several different iterations of Porsche’s most iconic model, the 911, would have made the cut. Of those, it’s the 993 generation of cars, which were built between 1995 and 1998, that have performed best. That’s because this series was the last to feature an air-cooled engine, making it, for many aficionados, the best and most desirable of all the 911s built over the last six decades. Another factor that has helped boost the car’s value by more than 70 per cent in the 2020s is that this generation also saw the release of several exclusive variants, along with its fair share of unique paint-to-sample examples. That means that anyone looking for a rare 993 has plenty of options to choose from.
Production Years: 1995 to 1998
Engine: 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six (GT2)
Power: 444 hp and 586 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 3.9 seconds
Top Speed: 296 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM1.5 million
Current Price: RM2.5 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 73 per cent
Ferrari F550 | Up 72 per cent
When the Ferrari F550 arrived in the mid-1990s, it represented something of a return to form for the Italian car maker. The sleek two-door was the company’s first V-12 to feature a front engine, rear-wheel drive layout since the Daytona had been discontinued 23 years earlier in 1973. That front-mounted mill, a 5.5-liter V-12, turned out to be pretty special, too. It was capable. Not only did it produce 478 horses, but, in 1998, it proved it could drive 100 miles at an average of 190.2 mph, a record that stood for four years. That’s not all the car has to offer, though. Add in a slick exterior design from legendary coachbuilder Pininfarina and you have yourself a sports car that’s seen its value increase by 72 per cent this decade.
Production Years: 1996 to 2001
Engine: 5.5-liter V-12
Power: 478 hp and 568 Nm of torque
0-100 km/h: 4.4 seconds
Top Speed: 320 km/h
Market Data:
Price in 2020: RM862,650
Current Price: RM1.5 million
Appreciation Since 2018: 72 per cent
Previously published on Robb Report USA
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