Is the ultra rare Maserati MC12 the best supercar investment of the last decade?

Bugatti Veyron. Ferrari Enzo. Porsche Carrera GT. Pagani Zonda. When you think of hypercars of the last decade these are the common names that will come up. With our recent acquisition of a Maserati MC12 which is the rarest of them all it begs the question which is considered the best investment?

The latest generation of hypercars like the LaFerrari and McLaren P1 are the ones that are hot on everyone’s lips currently meaning the likes of the Ferrari Enzo and Carrera GT find themselves out of the spotlight and into the eyes of collectors who consider them to be future classics and bulletproof investments. If you pay attention to the various classic car auctions around the world where figures of $10m plus are regularly changing hands for the likes of 1960s Ferraris or the iconic McLaren F1 then you’ll see why collectors and investors are contemplating the potential of today’s supercars. These kind of cars are like works of art, they will never be made again, they have their place in automotive history forever and that’s why their values seem to go one way and in some cases are proving to be a better investment than gold.

One of the major factors when considering which car makes the best investment is the rarity of it. To be able to join that exclusive club of owners for a hugely desirable model is very special in itself and in most cases the more exclusive the better. The Maserati MC12 is an incredibly rare car with only 50 made worldwide and while there are another 12 Corsa versions; these are made purely for the race track and are not road legal dampening their appeal to most. Compare this with 400 Ferrari Enzo’s or 450 Bugatti Veyrons or even 1270 Carrera GTs, an opportunity to join the MC12 club is a very rare one indeed. There are of course rarer cars than the Maserati MC12 but most of the time these are models that are limited for a very good reason whether it be the manufacturer can’t afford to make more or more likely they just couldn’t sell any more. You could point to the Lamborghini Reventon – only 20 coupes and 15 roadsters ever made making it one of rarest around but the problem with the Reventon is that it’s more of a midway car between the Murcielago and Aventador, it’s not quite special and unique enough and as such has not proven to be a good investment car as yet.

To have great investment potential rarity isn’t always enough, cars need to have something special about them too. If it’s a Ferrari say no more, any modern limited edition Ferrari is pretty much nailed on to be a good investment. This has been proven recently with the 360 Challenge Stradale, the 430 Scuderia and the 599 GTO which have all risen considerably in value and will continue to do so with the 458 Speciale another to add to that list in the future. A special mention must go to the Ferrari 599 SA Aperta which with only 8 or 9 RHD examples worldwide (80 including LHD) has got huge investment potential. If you put Ferrari aside then what else is there?

What makes the Bugatti Veyron so special is that when Volkswagen decided to create it they knew that each Veyron would cost around £5m to make and they were only going to sell for around £1m, it was never about making money, it was about creating history and producing the ultimate car for the ages no matter what the cost. The Veyron has been the most famous and talked about car of modern times but it hasn’t quite taken off as an investment car yet although there is very little doubt that it will and might eventually be the most valuable of them all. Values seemed to have bottomed out a few years ago and they have slowly been increasing since then, at least for the original cars. The difference with the Veyron is that Bugatti have still been selling new Veyrons up until very recently with the Grand Sport Vitesse being the last remaining version that was available. The other factor which has stopped the Veyron from really taking off as an investment is the huge running costs which far outweigh that of other hypercars. When the last ever Veyron leaves the factory that’s when we might see them climbing at a quicker pace as people don’t want to miss out on owning a slice of automotive history and possess a truly wonderful hypercar that might never be matched.

The Porsche Carrera GT was the steady eddy car for much of its first decade with values seemingly not moving up or down much but that’s all changed in 2014 with values sky-rocketing and fine examples becoming harder and harder to find. It’s not the only Porsche to have skyrocketed in 2014 with the likes of the 997 GT3 RS and GT2 RS both proving to be a fantastic investment. Whether this will continue into 2015 and beyond is subject to debate, there is a feeling that the classic car boom may have slowed down a touch and possibly peaked after this years Bonhams auction where one of the worlds most valuable cars, the 250 GTO Berlinetta sold for substantially lower than some people were estimating. (It still sold for a world record ££22,843,633 so perhaps estimations were a little ambitious!) Many other classic cars show no sign of stopping this upwards ascent especially some of the more modern supercars so a market crash similar to what happened in the early 90s doesn’t seem like it’s on the cards.

The Enzo is on the verge of having tripled in value since it was first introduced in 2004 with a list price of around £430,000. The Pagani Zonda is another one which the best examples can fetch close £1million despite costing under £400,000 when first launched. These are special cars that are becoming harder and harder to find, the Enzo in particular has so much going for it – being a Ferrari is one thing but to bear the name of the man that started it all makes it truly iconic while it’s distinctive design make it all the more memorable. The appeal of these modern supercars is only becoming far greater as more and more people are seeing the investment potential and the internet has made them more accessible, not to mention actually having the pleasure of driving these incredible machines make it a much more enjoyable investment than say most shares or bonds!

The Maserati MC12 has surely got to be one of the very top contenders, sure the Maserati badge might not be held in quite as high esteem as the prancing horse but many consider it the cooler choice and the MC12 holds just as much if not more wow factor than the Enzo on which it was based on. Whether it will prove to the greatest investment of any hypercar from the last decade, only time will tell.