The marketplace
The future classics market has a new big player after Bonhams announced the launch of MPH, dedicated to youngtimers and based at Bicester Heritage.
It will host four auctions each year, taking place in Bicester’s Hangar 113, with two in 2019 on 26 September and 26 November.
Rob Hubbard will move from Bonhams’ Bond Street headquarters to lead the venture, which Bonhams’ executive director and motoring group chairman, James Knight, labelled: “The most important strategic move that the Bonhams Motoring Department has come up with.”
There will be a moving element to each sale, too, as Hubbard explained: “One of our ideas is a drive-through of every sale to be able to see, hear, smell and look at the car moving and working.”
He added that a price limit of £50,000 is ideal, but “not set in stone”, and the process of consigning cars will be streamlined. An online upload tool will allow quick submissions, and Bonhams will hold sessions at its Bicester base for professional photography and valuations. That will also give the auctioneer a semblance of quality control and price guidance.
Three packages will be available, ranging from £125 to £300. A reduced fee structure will also be in place: 5% for sellers and 12.5% for buyers, made possible by that new approach according to Knight. “[Those] digital efficiencies and that it is being held on site mean the efficiencies can be passed on to sellers,” he explained.
The move also signals the end of Bicester’s two-year relationship with auction house Brightwells.