Sales Surpass $1B in Early 2025
February 2025 was a significant month for the classic and exotic car market. Two of the top five highest-priced sales in history took place, reflecting strong demand. A Ferrari 250 GTO LM changed hands in Paris for $36 million, while a Mercedes W196R fetched $53 million in Germany. However, these high-profile sales were not the only factors contributing to market growth—live auctions as a whole saw substantial activity, pushing industry-wide sales past $1 billion within the first two months of the year for the first time.
Live auctions saw notable increases in both volume and total sales. The dollar volume in live events rose by 77%, and the total number of vehicles sold increased by 75%. The average price, however, only increased by 54%, indicating that many sales occurred at lower price points. This can largely be attributed to high-volume motorcycle auctions, such as Mecum’s 300-bike sale and Iconic’s 91-motorcycle event. Additionally, RM Sotheby’s Miami auction, typically held in March, took place in February this year, adding to the month’s total. Paris saw strong activity, with Artcurial’s Retromobile event seeing an 80% increase in vehicles sold, RM Paris achieving a 60% uptick, and Broad Arrow conducting a 105-car, no-reserve auction, further contributing to the market’s growth.
While the online auction space saw a slight contraction across most key metrics, it remained stable overall. Bring a Trailer (BAT) was the only auction house to post growth in February, maintaining its position in the digital space. Beyond the numbers, one of the key takeaways from February 2025 was the significant improvement in Sell-Through Rate (STR) compared to the previous year. This aligns with a trend observed in late 2024—buyers and sellers are now more aligned on valuations. With prices having stabilized from their bullish 2022 highs, more transactions are being completed, making auctions a more efficient marketplace for collectors and enthusiasts.
If these trends continue, 2025 could shape up to be a strong year for the classic and exotic car industry.
Top 10 Sales
Top Online Sales
Top 10 Flips & Flops
Below is a list of sales that stand out as "Flips" or "Flops"—vehicles that changed hands this month that have documented past sales history. Below, these cars are ranked by their percentage increase or decrease in value, with time between sales also factored in*.
While some purists argue that a genuine "Flip" or "Flop" occurs only within a 12-month timeframe from the previous sale, we believe this list offers entertainment and insights that a narrower window would overlook.
Flips
Flops
*It's plausible (and likely) that cars have changed hands in private transactions between these public listings; nonetheless, this data provides valuable insights into which cars have realized significant gains or losses compared to their previous sales. Enjoy this data at your own discretion.
Market Busters
It's not just about six- and seven-figure sales – impressive results are happening across all price points. This month, these "Market Busters" set new all-time high sales records in their markets:
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This Report includes data from the following auctions:
Online Auctions:
US Live Auctions:
Paris Live Auctions:
Other UK / EU Live Auctions:
* A Market on CLASSIC.COM is a grouping of comparable vehicles that have, at a minimum, the same Make, Model, and Model Generation. When relevant for purposes of valuation, a Market may be further segmented by Model Variant, Trim, Transmission Type, Body Style, and other factors.
**The CLASSIC.COM Market Benchmark (CMB) is a benchmark value for vehicles in a given Market based on data accumulated by CLASSIC.COM and calculated by a proprietary algorithm that takes into account volume and recency of each data point. CMB can be used to assess the performance of a market over a given time period. However, it does not represent the value of a specific vehicle.
Read more in our Glossary of Terms