Aston Martin and Jaguar’s continuation cars are ‘pricey’

Bloomberg

Earlier this fall, Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc announced it would make 19 new continuations of its classic DB4 Zagato GT from the 1960s.
They’ll be built at Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, England, the company’s in-house classic-car department, and will have the same all-aluminum bodywork of an original DB4 GT Zagato, digitally scanned from the original and then hand-finished for maximum authenticity. They’ll have exactly the same 380-horsepower, 3.8-liter, straight-six engine and a four-speed manual transmission as the original, too—which means it won’t be road legal for modern standards. Thankfully, it will come paired with a road-legal DBS GT Zagato; it’s all part of a DBZ Centenary Collection celebrating the Italian design house’s 100th anniversary.
Pricing starts at $7.9 million for the pair.
But don’t expect to see them on the track for at least 18 months. If anything, the 105-year-old brand has learned to take its time.
“It’s a balancing act. The continuation series has been the most controversial of our projects,” says Simon Sproule, the vice president and chief marketing officer for Aston Martin Lagonda. “We have approached it with a cautious view. We know our strategy: We go slowly.”
Loosely defined, a continuation car is a vehicle no longer in production that the original automaker begins producing again, usually in limited amounts such as nine, or 25, or 50. These are not restorations or replicas. The cars are built new in accordance with the original standards and engineering plan, although some contain modern components. The OEM might continue the VIN numbering right where it left off—or start at zero.
In August, Aston Martin announced it would make a limited run of 25 continuation Goldfinger DB5s, complete with the lethal spy gadgets seen in the film and the same Silver Birch paint.
The first cars will be built in 2020 and will cost £2.75 million ($3.6 million).
Elsewhere in England, Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. has produced classic Jaguar XKSS, Lightweight E-Type, and D-Type continuation cars. The Tata Motors Ltd. brand announced the D-Type earlier this year. It will look exactly like the original D-type, which won the Le Mans 24 Hours race three times from 1955 to 1957, with the same monocoque cockpit fashioned from sheets of aluminum alloy and a fuel tank in its tail.
The interior will have the same round speedometer dial; thin wooden, metal-perforated steering wheel (right-hand drive, of course); and four-speed manual shifter. The price tag will likely exceed $1.4 million.
Their sales success is uncontested. Virtually each continuation series offered from the likes of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Zagato has sold out before the official announcement of the vehicle—and for plenty of cash. Most range in pricing from $350,000 to more than $1 million.
“It’s a market that has created itself in the last five years,” Sproule says, describing the attention newer collectors pay to “modern classics” such as continuations. “There is a new breed of collector out there who is younger, has come into money through an [initial public offering]—or whatever it might be—and this new car collector is collecting modern classics.” It’s a reaction to general market interest in rare cars. “The sales numbers speak for themselves,” says Sproule.
Twenty years ago, a continuation car was worth half that of an original. In May 1998, a 1991 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato continuation sold for just over $500,000 at a Brooks auction, according to Hagerty records. The very next month, an original Zagato-bodied Aston Martin DB4 GT took $1.1 million at a similar auction.
Their values continue to hold, with prices of continuation cars still running at half or just under half the current value of the originals. And it doesn’t seem to be hurting the value of the actual classics.
“So far, our perspective is that continuation cars neither hurt nor enhance the value of the original cars,” Jonathan Klinger, a spokesman and analyst for Hagerty, tells Pursuits. “We certainly keep track.
It’s a very calculated programme the brands do; the last thing they want is to dilute their brand or hurt the market.” A flashy gem from an automaker’s past might not reflect well on the bland sedan it makes today.
For high-end brands, the value and rarity of certain blue-chip vintage items circulating through auctions and private sales always relates to, and sometimes informs, the value of their modern collectable cars.

The Counter Argument
Continuation cars remain polarising. Some say they mark the downfall of car society, encouraging relatively instant gratification and ease of driving, whether or not a particular car is original and authentic to its period.
“You can say they’re attracting people who don’t want the experience of an old classic car,” says Stephen Serio, owner of Aston Martin of New England and the Bond Group, a consultancy and brokerage firm for collectible cars. “It’s nothing more than a cash grab” for the companies, he says. “It cheapens the brand. It makes a mockery of it.’”