The car collecting world is undergoing a major transformation as younger generations challenge decades-old traditions about how vintage and supercar vehicles should be owned and enjoyed, says Bloomberg. A new group of car owners is rewriting the rules of automotive collecting, and they’re doing it with vehicles that are deliberately impractical, expensive, and unapologetically excessive.
Passion Over Profit
"We see more customers from a younger generation approaching the hypercar market," Pagani Automobili America Head of Marketing Christopher Pagani told Bloomberg. "You sit all of them at the same table, and they'll never talk about money. They'll always talk about their passion."
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Jack Morris owns a 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 that he describes in less-than-flattering terms. "It's huge, it's heavy, it's clunky, you can't see out of it," he told Bloomberg, adding that he, however, does not "care about any of that," and that he loves his vehicle "because it delivers something memorable."
The Drive-It-Don’t-Store-It Philosophy
Public relations manager Jeremy Malcolm at Hagerty, a company specializing in insurance for classic, collector, and enthusiast vehicles, owns a 2003 Porsche Boxster and is also part of this car collecting transformation. “It’s affordable to maintain and it’s reliable,” Malcolm told local news publication Monterey County Now. “I’m the type of enthusiast that drives as much as possible. I love to just be going places.”
Hundreds of enthusiasts, like Morris and Malcom, who are more passionate about driving and less concerned with traditional automotive metrics, gathered at the Wynn Las Vegas with their Bugattis, Ferraris, Koenigseggs, and Paganis for a 600-car concours on Nov. 1.
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Among the attendees were buyers who purchase vehicles to drive them rather than storing them as low-mileage investments, reports Bloomberg. "It's not about how people react to the supercar — it's about how you feel driving the supercar," Dallas entrepreneur Ron Sturgeon told the outlet. "We need to be attracting these younger people."
Digital Platforms Replace Traditional Auctions
Younger collectors, however, rarely appear in front rows at live auctions bidding on vehicles, Gordon McCall, the director of motorsports for The Quail, a high-end automotive event held annually during Monterey Car Week in California, told Monterey County Now. Instead, they turn to internet platforms including Craigslist, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and specialized websites, he said. Most auction houses now maintain dedicated teams to process internet bids, according to McCall, with social media serving as "a huge benefit to the diversity of the hobby."
"If you're buying something because you think it's going to go up in value, it's the wrong way," McCall said. "That's secondary. If it happens to go up in value, you've won the lottery. But the use of it is a value."
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Market Resilience Amid Industry Challenges
This transformation comes as this younger, more active supercar ownership group helps the collecting market remain resilient despite challenges including tariffs and disappointing electric vehicle sales, reports Bloomberg.
Only two exotic car manufacturers managed to grow their US sales during the first five months of 2025, CarBuzz reported, even as trade policy uncertainty rattled the luxury automotive sector. McLaren and Lamborghini stood alone among high-end marques in posting positive registration numbers through May 2025, according to CarBuzz.
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