Classic hot hatches see values rocket
Wed, 12 Apr 2023
Hagerty, the classic car insurance specialist, has released the latest update of the Hagerty UK Price Guide, showing that the world's most valuable cars are becoming even more valuable, while hot hatchbacks are being bought up by younger drivers.
The Hagerty Price Guide, launched in 2012, tracks the values of cars from multi-million exotics to humble hatchbacks, collating the results of auction sales, dealer sales and in some cases private sales, to help build a true picture of the financial value of a car.
The latest valuation data is applied each quarter, with 15,000 makes, models and year of vehicles now listed. Hagerty has formed seven bespoke indices within the Price Guide, the first of which is the Classic Index, followed by Best of British Index, Hot Hatch Index, Italian marque Index, Porsche Index, Gold Index, and Festival of the Unexceptional Index.
The guide shows that the market was dipping before the Covid-19 pandemic, but then picked up after the lockdowns were lifted, with each of the seven different groups of cars following a similar pattern, almost every type of car peaking in value.
Hagerty's Gold Index cars have risen most in percentage terms, taking the lead after a strong performance in 2022 when some cars, including the Ferrari F40 and Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, soared in value.
Hot hatchbacks were the top gainers throughout 2021, and still retain second place. Cars such as the Ford Escort XR3i, the Vauxhall HS Chevette and the MG Maestro Turbo all made significant gains.
The Festival of the Unexceptional Index has struggled a little in overall terms, with the index now at about 90% of its value in 2018. That said, every car in the Index rose or remained static in the last year, with some, such as the Vauxhall Viva HB, the Citroën CX S2, and the British Leyland Princess 1800, all rising over 10% in the same period.
The Best of British Index saw a few key cars on the list reduced in value, such as the Austin-Healey 100, the Sunbeam Tiger, and the Jaguar XK120, while the value of other key cars, like the Aston Martin DB5, remained relatively flat.
But over the past 12 months, the list was pulled up by a handful of cars that soared in value, including the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth that rose 41% in the last year alone.
Hagerty added the Ferrari 348, F355 and California models to the guide, all lower values in Ferrari terms which had an effect overall, and in the last 12 months, the F50 and Enzo were added which brought averages back up again.
Hagerty experts noted the 'upswing' was also aided by big changes in exchange rates. The Porsche Index peaked in late 2021, with big rises pretty much across the board but then dipped, which happened for different reasons to the Ferraris: Hagerty added a huge number of lower-valued models to the guide, including 996 and 997 Porsche 911s and some generations of the Boxster.
Even so, the average value has climbed back and continues to rise, and Porsches generally remain strong sellers.
John Mayhead, Editor of the UK Hagerty Price Guide, said, "Comparing these indices over time really shows what a diverse and complex place the classic car world is."
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