The Bugatti Veyron is the collector world's next big thing: Hagerty

For years, the Bugatti Veyron was the supercar that shattered every performance record, only to quietly stall in the one area that hurt collectors: auction values. The world's first hypercar, with only 450 units built across all variants between 2005 and 2015, struggled to find its audience even when it was new. But now that's changing. "Last year we started seeing it in the data — it was kind of like the year of the Bugatti," said Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty, whose company is the world's largest insurer of collector cars. Since 2021, Hagerty data shows Veyrons gained roughly 20% in value. The earliest cars are up 29% to an average of about $1.9 million. And the people chasing them now skew younger than buyers of a current Porsche 911.The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.·Pras Subramanian Hagerty traces the shift to a tectonic move in the market. "Newer cars are now considered collectible," he said, a change driven — as so much is in the auto world — by Ferrari. Vintage Ferraris from the 1950s and '60s have gone flat, he noted, "but flat against a very high number." The real demand is in the modern Ferrari machinery, where years-long waiting lists have become an engine of the secondary market. "Ferrari's wait list is so long that it pushes people into other brands," Hagerty said. McLaren benefited. So did Porsche. The Veyron, he argues, got swept into that same current of buyers who want something rare and want it now. There is also a generational twist. The buyers are younger, but the older generation is inspired too. "I know three new Veyron buyers who bought it because they said, 'Well, I want something so my grandkids will think I'm cool,'" he said. "And I'm like, OK. Rock on. Why not?" Read more: How to find the best luxury car insuranceThe Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.·Pras Subramanian Hagerty and Bugatti offered limited drives of the very first Veyron Super Sport, which debuted at Monterey in 2010. While I wasn't able to really let the car loose, I was surprised by how modern the 16-year-old car felt. In fact, it felt brand new, with a firm yet supple ride in some respects, incredibly easy power that came on gradually, and a comfortable interior with leather everywhere. It's the perfect car to take to the track at screaming-high speeds, then drive home on the back roads afterward. It may also be why the newer collector covets relatively modern hypercars, because they are easier to live with. Which brings Hagerty to economics. Ask whether a K-shaped economy exists in the collector-car world, and he doesn't hesitate. "Like the two upper levels of a K," he said. "When people are paying a lot of money for cars, it's because there was a big liquidity event." Company sales, IPOs, and an overheated stock market — all of it against a backdrop of tariffs, high rates, and global conflict that "freaks people out." The result is a gold rush at the very top, largely indifferent to the anxiety in the lower rungs of even the modestly wealthy. Story Continues The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.·Pras Subramanian Hagerty has watched the acceleration up close with many of his clients. "The number of $100 million car collections built in a matter of months, rather than decades, is very different right now," he said. Is it investment or indulgence — who knows. "It's a fun thing. You sell your company for a billion dollars — why not?" From the inside, the Veyron looks like the car anyone with big money to burn, and a limber back, would want. Pras Subramanian is Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram. Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance View Comments