RM Sotheby’s 2025: a record-breaking year for collector car sales

It’s safe to that 2025 has been a truly great year for RM Sotheby’s, with several world-record results achieved over the past 12 months. We kicked off the year by launching the collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which saw the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 R Stromlinienwagen sell at the Mercedes-Benz museum for a staggering €51,155,000, making it the second most valuable collector car ever sold at auction.

Also from the collection was the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Ferrari 250 LM, which headlined our Paris auction just a few days after the sale of the streamliner. A two-day event for the first time ever and featuring a fantastic collection of Porsches on day one, the 1964 Ferrari 250 LM sold on day two for €34,880,000, making that car the sixth most valuable ever sold at auction, and the fourth most valuable Ferrari ever.

RM Sotheby’s Paris auction achieved a total of €69 million, reinforcing its status as our flagship European sale. The second ModaMiami auction we’ve conducted saw the rest of that collection sell for a total of $34.4 million, with highlights including the Holman-Moody 1966 Ford GT40 MkII hammering for a world record (for a GT40) $13,205,000.

“Monterey is the annual moment at which the strength of the market truly reveals itself”

Monterey is always the annual moment at which the strength of market truly reveals itself. This year’s results proved to be strong, with a huge swing towards modern supercars and countless records broken. We sold the most expensive new car ever, bringing $26 million for a 2025 Ferrari SP3 Daytona ‘Tailor Made’, but other highlights included the Ferrari F40 LM, which fetched just over $11 million, and the ex-Ralph Lauren Ferrari F50, which demolished the previous record for an F50 set in Miami by selling for $9,425,000.

Part of the big news in 2025 has been our continued expansion into the Middle Eastern market. This year sees the addition of Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week in December, a joint initiative between RM Sotheby’s, Sotheby’s, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office that will bring an unprecedented programme of luxury events to the Emirates. We have more than $50 million in early consignments committed to our Abu Dhabi auction, so it is clear this is a region with vast potential.

Broadly, the market continues to surprise. Clearly, the past few years haven’t been as bullish as they were a decade ago, but the market continues to evolve hand-in-hand with the buying demographic, and the continued growing strength of the post-1990 supercar and hypercar market is a signal as to the market’s current direction of travel. The Tailored for Speed Collection that is to be offered in Zurich in October 2025 presents the pinnacle of today’s market. It is an immaculately curated selection of the rarest and most sought-after modern collector cars that features models such as the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, Pagani Huayra Roadster, Ferrari FXX-K Evo and the Ferrari 333 SP sports-racer. For RM Sotheby’s it is the most significant single-owner collection of such cars to ever be offered in Europe.