fbpx
Forum

A bird’s eye view at the Classic Car universe

We live in an exciting moment of history with fast and fundamental change. The internet has and will continue to disrupt industries including the car industry. Classic car collectors, aficionados and industry stakeholders love old cars as a passion or as a business and want this wonderful story to continue.

Taking a bird's eye view at the classic car universe, we see some imminent questions about the future of classic cars in general and more specifically about the opportunity to use them in the future, about the generational transition, and about value development. The top 100 collectors in the world own around 3500 of the most important automotive gems worth approximately US$ 10bn. They are on average 71 years old (20% of them are around 80 years). What are there succession solutions? Will collectors sell their cars, donate them to museums or make their own museums, or will they pass them on to their sons and daughters? What would it mean for this market if 25% would sell their collection as a succession solution? We would talk some 2bn US$ of the most important cars changing hands. How does the next generation tomorrow look at these cars from yesterday? They have their taste and live another life with new priorities in another world.

The car industry is undergoing a steep transformation with new shared mobility concepts and meeting trends like connected life. Industry leaders feel that classic cars will still be important for them as their DNA and historic, however, will we be able to use our classic cars in 10 years from now and what can we do to support this wish? The mission of the Circle is to create a platform for a meeting of minds and to foster exchange among leaders of the international classic car community for the good of the future of classic cars.

The Circle brings together major collectors, business leaders, politicians, opinion leaders, and experts to discuss solutions for the most pressing questions of the classic car world. It shall be a not-for-profit organization funded by concerned founders, industry partners and donors with a limited number of fellows. It takes the World Economic Forum as a role model for governance and practice principles. The participants of the 2019 meeting in Paris agreed that there is an important need to discuss and help steer solutions. They anonymously supported the idea of The Circle and encouraged the initiator to continue to build it.

Read more

Logo the circle

Among our most prestigious contributors