Today we go into greater detail about what makes a car ‘Investment Grade’. In this newsletter, we use Autofolio's investment process to showcase distinguishing factors that make a car an investment. These can be cross-referenced to any car to determine if it is investable and has the potential for future appreciation. 

This article aims to answer the 10s of messages we get a day that go along the lines of: “Hi, Do you think my 130,000 miles Skoda Fabia vRS will be a future classic??…”

📈 Investment Car Attributes

This summarises the ‘Vehicle Selection’ segment of the Autofolio investment process:

Inefficient Pricing - Cars that are priced incorrectly and are under-appreciated by the market.

Future Market Demand - Opportunity for future demand. Buyers who previously could not afford to buy their ‘dream car’ now can.

End of an Era - Cars that are unlikely to be made again.

Brand Equity - Significant brand history and heritage.


Historical Price Performance - Other models from a brand have proven to appreciate over time.

For a car to be deemed investment grade under the Autofolio investment process 4 out of 5 of these investment attributes must be met.

In addition to this, it is fundamental that examples are of the highest quality. Being original, low mileage examples, and are accompanied by significant history records. 

Example: I-G 📈

Ferrari 550 Maranello 

✅ Cars still trade ~£100k 

✅ Growing market of buyers who now can afford the car which they could not in the late 90s/00s

✅ Last of the V12 manual Ferrari’s

✅ Significant brand equity from the success the brand has had on both race track and road 

✅ Proven track record of appreciation from similar models from the marque 

Example: Non I-G 📉

Bentley Continental GT

❌ Cars trade at a fair market-determined value of ~£100k

❌ Supply of cars is too high to see any significant move in price driven by potential future demand

✅ Possibly the last Continental GT to feature the W12 engine

✅ The brand carries a racing pedigree and luxury allure 

❌ The model has a proven track record for continued depreciation through its lifecycle 

Interested to find out more about investment cars and Autofolio?

Investment Cars 2025 click here 

2025 Appreciating Automobiles report (Free) click here

Buy an Investment Car click here

Sell Your Investment Car click here 

Lastest Blogs

Learn more about investment cars

View all

The BMW M4 CSL Is Misunderstood. And Significantly Mispriced

The BMW M4 CSL Is Misunderstood. And Significantly Mispriced

The BMW M4 CSL was produced in 2022 and 2023. Global production was capped at 1,000 cars. In the UK, just 100 right-hand-drive examples were allocated. The starting point was the M4 Competition already one of the most capable performance...

Read moreabout The BMW M4 CSL Is Misunderstood. And Significantly Mispriced

The VW Beetle RSi: 1 of 250. £35k in 2020. £68k Today

The VW Beetle RSi: 1 of 250. £35k in 2020. £68k Today

The RSi was Volkswagen's answer to a question nobody had asked: what if the New Beetle, the retro-styled, cheerful runabout that had been relaunched in 1998 was rebuilt as a serious performance car? The answer involved borrowing the 3.2-litre narrow-angle...

Read moreabout The VW Beetle RSi: 1 of 250. £35k in 2020. £68k Today

Ferrari 430 16M: The Naturally Aspirated Special That's Quietly Tripled in Value

Ferrari 430 16M: The Naturally Aspirated Special That's Quietly Tripled in Value

If you want proof that the right classic Ferrari can be a genuinely brilliant investment, you won't find a better case study than the Ferrari 430 16M. In our latest video, we go deep on this car: why Ferrari built it,...

Read moreabout Ferrari 430 16M: The Naturally Aspirated Special That's Quietly Tripled in Value