Monterey Car Week is known for supercars, hypercars and ultra-exclusive limited editions. Nowhere else in the automotive world brings together quite so much power, exclusivity and wealth in such a concentrated area. Lamborghini, BMW Alpina, Porsche, Aston Martin, Gunther Werks and Bentley all come here to make an impression. And if a manufacturer really wants to be noticed, there is one place in particular to do it: The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering. Increasingly, however, even this celebration of excess is embracing electrification.
Lamborghini has been using Monterey Car Week to make a splash for years, routinely reserving its brief moment on The Quail’s white stage for its latest headline-grabbing creation. This year that car is the Revuelto SV, a screaming twelve-cylinder supercar assisted by three electric motors.
The Lamborghini Revuelto Super Veloce combines typically dramatic styling with equally dramatic numbers. Its hybrid powertrain produces 783 kW / 1,065 PS and 1,425 Nm of torque, launching the car from 0-100 km/h in 2.4 seconds before continuing to 345 km/h. Through Lamborghini’s Ad Personam programme, there are few practical limits to personalisation. And at more than €580,000, remarkably, it is not even one of the particularly expensive cars on display at Pebble Beach.
Just a few metres away, the covers come off something entirely new from Aston Martin. Called Valen, it uses the British marque’s familiar V12 platform but produces 850 PS and 1,000 Nm, making it the most powerful front-engined sports car in Aston Martin’s 113-year history. Production is strictly limited to 150 examples.
The proportions are unmistakably Aston Martin: a long bonnet accommodating the 5.2-litre V12, a tightly drawn cabin and an aggressive but elegant stance. Its 345 km/h top speed matches the Revuelto SV, a frankly absurd figure on the road and one that few racing circuits could accommodate comfortably. The price is similarly extraordinary: €1.8 million.
BMW Alpina, meanwhile, is making its first major American appearance with its Concept Coupé. The elegant two-door already celebrated its world premiere at the Concorso d’Eleganza on Lake Como earlier this year, but California may ultimately prove even more important. The United States has long been an important market for BMW M, and the newly repositioned BMW Alpina brand should find plenty of potential customers here too. The unanswered question is whether the Coupé will remain a tantalising concept or eventually join the expected Alpina derivatives of the 7 Series and X7.
Audi also makes a significant return to Monterey after years away. Its headline act is the Nuvolari, a strictly limited successor to the R8. Closely related technically to the Lamborghini Temerario, the mid-engined hybrid will be restricted to 499 cars and produce 736 kW / 1,001 PS. With a price of €590,000, production begins towards the end of the year ahead of customer deliveries in early 2027. Like several of its new-generation rivals, Audi has resisted going fully electric, instead opting for a high-performance hybrid powertrain capable of more than 350 km/h.
One of the biggest stars of The Quail is the Brabus Bodo. CEO Constantin Brabus pulls the covers from the convertible twin to the already spectacular Coupé, creating an open interpretation of the company’s Aston Martin Vanquish-based supercar. Powered by a 5.2-litre V12 producing 1,000 PS, it reaches 360 km/h. Finished in a pale silk-like colour and created as a tribute to late company founder Bodo Buschmann, the roadster is arguably even more dramatic than the Coupé.
Porsche takes a different approach with a unique commission guaranteed to stop enthusiasts in their tracks. The Flachbau RS reinterprets the legendary Porsche 935, the racing car nicknamed “Moby Dick” because of its vast elongated tail. Its owner wanted more performance and a slant-nose appearance for a 911 GT2 RS, combined with the rear wing from a 911 GT3 R Rennsport.
Working with Manthey, Porsche created a road-legal collector’s piece finished in Grand Prix White, complete with redesigned wings and a flattened nose inspired by the legendary Le Mans 935/78.
And it is far from alone. Cadillac shows its V-One Concept with obvious inspiration from this year’s Le Mans prototype, while the Morgan Supersport, Kimera K39 and Hennessey Blackbird provide yet more exotic distractions. The latter offers 850 PS, a top speed beyond 340 km/h and a price exceeding $2.5 million.
Ferrari traditionally maintains a strong presence around Pebble Beach but prefers its own customer events.
This year it presents the CZ26, a one-off created through the Progetti Speciali programme. Developed by Ferrari’s in-house design department under Flavio Manzoni for an American customer, it represents a highly personal reinterpretation of the super-sports Berlinetta concept with a deliberately technological, forward-looking design language. Even faster is Bugatti’s Dernier, powered by an 8.0-litre W16 producing 1,600 PS.
There is even something for those wanting hypercar performance with the whole family aboard. Lucid publicly unveils the Gravity GT-S at Pebble Beach, the most powerful version of its new SUV. Up to seven occupants can sit across three rows while 1,070 PS launches the car to 100 km/h in little more than three seconds. A handling package, air suspension and rear-wheel steering attempt to ensure that such immense straight-line performance is matched by suitably serious dynamics.
At the opposite end of the philosophical spectrum sits the Gunther Werks GXR-Evo. It accommodates just two people and relies on a 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six producing 455 PS and revving to 9,000 rpm. There is no electric assistance here. Instead, the focus is on analogue driving pleasure, low weight and a tightly wrapped body carrying not a gram more material than necessary.
Ruf follows a similarly traditional recipe with the Ehra. Its 3.6-litre turbocharged flat-six sends 650 PS to all four wheels, wrapped in wide-body styling unmistakably influenced by the classic Porsche 964. For Ruf, The Quail remains as much about meeting customers and enthusiasts as unveiling new machinery.
McLaren completes the picture with the McL 6GT, a modern interpretation of the M6GT – Bruce McLaren’s original but never fully realised dream of producing his own road-going supercar. The formula is refreshingly traditional: lightweight carbon-fibre construction, a V8 combustion engine, a manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive.
In an industry increasingly dominated by efficiency targets, shared architectures and electrification, Monterey remains one of the last places where excess is not merely tolerated but celebrated. The technology is changing, and hybridisation and electric power are increasingly impossible to ignore, but The Quail continues to demonstrate that exclusivity, spectacle and outrageous performance remain very much alive.
