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A Ford Escort RS 1800 that sold at auction in July for a record £276,848 is evidence of the growing appeal of modern classics to the Gen X and millennial generations, who now have the money and desire to realise their childhood poster-car dreams, say experts.

Backing the claim, the same experts point to a similar model sold in 2015. Compared with July’s example, which was merely a restored former press car, this RS 1800 had been rallied by Ari Vatanen and Roger Clark, yet it sold for just £85,500, or £118,800 if adjusted for inflation.

Peter Haynes, marketing and business boss at RM Sotheby’s, said the scarcity and appeal of modern classics from the past 50 years are major influences on the prices that these new generations of buyers are paying for them.

“When did you last see a Ford Sierra XR4i or a Vauxhall Cavalier SRi?,” he asked. “They may have been volume sellers, but many have been scrapped and are today extremely rare and so increasing in desirability and price. It’s a generational thing that has been happening over the past 10 years. 

“Thirty to 60-year-old enthusiasts are increasingly drawn to the cars of their youth. At all price points, people are buying the cars they most identify with.”

John Glynn, managing director of Specialist Car Valuations, said interest in modern classics isn’t confined to the usual suspects such as BMW M cars and Mercedes-AMGs. 

“The 2009/10 scrappage schemes have made most cars that survived more desirable, often to people who do a bit of ‘man maths’ to justify spending over the odds,” he said. “Some people are making a lot of money and, with profits on private sales of used cars being free of capital gains tax, buying in-demand classics or those with potential is a smart investment.”

He continued: “At the other end of the price spectrum, even youngsters excluded from the housing market by high prices are instead spending £5000 to £10,000 on fledgling modern classics. From Ford Escort XR3 cabriolets to Land Rover Freelanders, the best examples are all becoming more expensive.”

However, John Mayhead, editor of the Hagerty Price Guide, believes the market isn’t as buoyant as recent eye-catching auction results might suggest.

“Only 70% of Hagerty Price Guide cars rose in value during the past year,” he said. “The post-Covid rush to buy and the explosion in online auction sales sent prices to new heights but many have since fallen to more affordable levels. The market is divided and nuanced, with exclusive top cars still in huge demand and performance variants of, for example, 997-generation Porsche 911s enjoying a lot of interest. 

“Modern classics beloved of Gen X buyers, including Renault 5 Turbos, Ford Escort XR3is and Sierra Cosworths, Peugeot 205 GTis and Volkswagen Golf GTIs, also continue to prosper. 

“The casualties in the shift to modern classics are the older, traditional cars including Triumph TR2s, TR3s and TR4s, MGBs and even MGFs, Austin-Healey 3000s, Aston Martin DB2s, DB4s, DB5s and DB6s and Jaguar E-Types. Prices for many of these have fallen, which of course is making them more affordable. However, garaging and maintaining them isn’t getting any cheaper, dampening their appeal.”

Haynes agreed: “The best E-Types still command high prices, but there are lots of lesser examples at far lower prices. Today’s sales are dominated by modern supercars. They are the new stars of the auctions, although more cars such as the most desirable Subaru Impreza Turbos and Nissan Skylines are beginning to break through and, of course, fast Fords.”

Leapmotor has reprised plans to build cars in Europe as part of an expansion that includes the imminent launch of two new, more European-friendly models. 

The Chinese brand, of which Stellantis owns a majority of the international rights, will build cars in Spain, according to Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa. 

Speaking at an event for financial group Kepler Cheuvreux, Filosa is reported by Automotive News Europe as confirming Spain as the European production site for Leapmotor from 2026, although he didn't say which factory or model.

The report claims the Zaragoza plant, which currently builds the Peugeot 208, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Lancia Ypsilon, is the most likely production site, given its planned expansion to include a new €4.1 billion gigafactory for LFP batteries as part of a joint venture between Stellantis and Chinese supplier CATL. 

The B10 is the most likely model to be built initially in Spain – a 4.5m-long crossover pitched right into the heart of the C-segment. The related B05 hatchback could also follow.

European production will allow Leapmotor to avoid the additional 20.7% it has to pay in tariffs to the EU for importing EVs from China.

The brand's launch line-up in Europe, including the UK, are the T03 city car and the C10 SUV. Both of these models were designed and engineered before the Stellantis deal was struck. However, Tianshu Xin, CEO of Leapmotor International, said that future models will benefit from work at Stellantis's European R&D facilities to make them more Euro-friendly, including the impending B10 and B05 (pictured below).

"Being a brand making a car developed and produced in China, it takes time to understand European customer behaviour," Xin told Autocar. "Our job is to collect the feedback from customers and feed it into the engineering team, and they are able to fix and improve constantly.

"The speed of improvement and the focus of the energy going into production improvement is very impressive."

Reflecting on the brand's first year in Europe at the recent Munich motor show, Xin said he was "happy to see the progress" made but "if you're asking me if I'm satisfied, I will say 'no, I think we can do even better'".

He said he expected that progress to "accelerate with the B10".

Leapmotor will stick to its plan of pricing below rivals (the C10 and B10 are both priced more in line with cars in the segment below). 

Xin said the fact that the company controls so much of its own supply chain and makes so much in-house allows it to be so competitive. 

"This means Leapmotor can optimise the cost from the design phase to the manufacturing phase," he explained. "It doesn't have to communicate with supplier A, B, C to make things work on the car."

The fact that Leapmotor started out as an electronics company also gives it an edge in the EV sphere, Xin said.

He also said the brand had worked hard to build trust with retailers to remove "pain points" that some have experienced with other Chinese car makers, who have suffered from quality issues, parts shortages or simply disappeared from the market. 

The integration with Stellantis gives Leapmotor a huge advantage there too, he added.

The new Renault 4 EV has gained a new cargo van variant, swapping its rear seats for a plastic load tray and lashing hooks.

The removal of the rear seats gives the converted crossover a cargo capacity of 1045 litres, while its maximum payload is rated at 345kg.

A mesh bulkhead is offered as an optional extra and, depending on the market in which the van is sold, it also comes with functions to prevent the rear doors and windows from opening; an anti-slip mat for the load bay; or a privacy cover for the load bay.

Unlike many commercial variants of cars, such as the Skoda Enyaq Cargo, the rear windows aren't tinted for privacy as standard.

The 4 Van has yet to be confirmed for the UK but is currently under evaluation for sales here. 

In its native France, prices start from €29,300 – equivalent to £25,000, excluding VAT.

That nets the entry-level powertrain that isn’t offered in UK-market versions of the four-seat 4. Pairing a 118bhp front-mounted motor with a 40kWh battery, it yields 191 miles of range and can be charged from 15-80% in 30 minutes.

The 4 Van can also be had with a more potent 148bhp motor and 52kWh battery, boosting range to 254 miles. This has a higher peak charging rate of 100kW compared with the smaller pack’s 80kW but still takes 30 minutes to charge from 15-80%. 

The conversion is performed by Renault’s in-house customisation service, Qstomize, at the Maubeuge plant in France where the 4 is produced.