Market Intelligence
Bonhams wins the Festival of slow at Goodwood
The article discusses the results of the 2022 Bonhams auction that took place during the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The auction recorded disappointing results with just 62.66% of the 75 cars on offer being sold, and only marginal improvements from the previous year's results. The article highlights the decline in the auction's takings, with just £6,601,341 against a target of £12,901,000, which is the worst result in 12 years. The article goes on to mention the top lots that went unsold, including a McLaren P1 GTR, a Benetton B193B Formula 1 car, and a 1931 Invicta S-Type 4.5 litre. The competition for the most expensive car was between a 1937 Frazer-Nash-BMW 328 Roadster and a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 Series IV Convertible, with the former selling for £636,600 and the latter for £588,440. However, both cars were sold below their minimum estimates.
I have been following the Bonhams auction with great attention since 2005, as it takes place in conjunction with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, an event known for its considerable public success and for the unrivalled spectacle of the show itself. A success that, however, did not reverberate on the auction which ended up being the first of the year not to improve on last year’s results. If anything, it was worse, because while 2021 was a bit of a disappointment, 2022 was... a photocopy.
The increase in the number of cars without reserve, from eleven to twenty-seven percent, suggested that this time things would have been different, but instead the end result was only marginally better: 47 of the 75 cars on offer were sold, equal to 62.66%, a slight increase over the 58.06% of last year, but with twice as many cars without reserve.
