Speed, Style and Spectacle at Monterey Car Week

Each August, the Monterey Peninsula transforms into the gravitational center of the automotive universe. What began as a modest weekend concours has grown into a ten-day orchestration of auctions, concept debuts, vintage racing, and brand-hosted spectacles.

Monterey Car Week 2025 may go down as one of the most ambitious and dazzling editions yet—a kaleidoscope where century-old coachwork, futuristic electric prototypes, and record-breaking auctions all shared the same stage.

The Auction Block: Where Legends Trade Hands

Few events in the automotive calendar rival the intensity of Monterey’s auctions, and this year’s results silenced any whispers of a cooling market. RM Sotheby’s set the tone with a thunderous $26 million hammer price for a charity Ferrari Daytona SP3 ‘Tailor Made.’ Cloaked in iridescent crimson and gold carbon fiber, it was not only a celebration of Maranello’s craftsmanship but also an emblem of philanthropy, with every cent donated to global relief charities.

The bidding wars continued with a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Competizione Alloy Spider in deep silver livery commanding $25.3 million—proving that the California Spider remains the dream machine of collectors worldwide. A 2020 Bugatti Divo, still smelling of delivery leather, crossed the block for $8.55 million, hailed by bidders as a “modern unicorn.”

Other highlights included multiple LaFerrari coupes surpassing $5 million, a Jaguar XJ220S LM roaring past $2 million, and a flurry of Shelby Cobras and Aston Martin DB4GTs that fueled late-night transatlantic bidding wars. For a market rumored to be cooling, Monterey 2025 told another story entirely: the appetite for rarity and provenance is as ravenous as ever.

The Concept Lawn: A Glimpse into Tomorrow

Pebble Beach’s famed Concept Lawn is noted as ‘Monterey’s crystal ball,’ and the view into the future was both electric and electrifying.

Chevrolet stunned the crowd with its Corvette CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo concepts—2,000 horsepower of all-electric fury. The fighter jet–inspired cockpit featured an augmented reality HUD projected directly onto the windshield, merging esports innovation with motorsport heritage. Cadillac unveiled its Elevated Velocity Concept, a sci-fi EV crossover with biometric driver recognition and an adaptive “halo wing” that shifted for aerodynamic balance. Insiders whispered that elements of this showstopper will appear in Cadillac’s next flagship production model.

Bentley’s EXP 15 struck a romantic chord in the luxury market, marrying 1930s Speed Six inspiration with modern sustainability. Its three-seat arrangement, walnut-trimmed interior, and silent electric drive embodied an old-world elegance re-imagined for the future. Lamborghini, meanwhile, drew five-deep crowds around its Fenomeno, a 1,065-hp hybrid V12 hypercar limited to just 29 units. With roof-mounted intakes and exposed forged carbon, it carried Sant’Agata’s bravado into an era of emissions-conscious engineering.

Also making waves: Lucid’s GravityX SUV, Ford’s Bronco Roadster prototype, and Shelby’s Super Snake-R—all underscoring a key theme of the 2025 Lawn: sustainability, personalization, and sheer performance are now vying neck-and-neck for dominance in the decade ahead.

The Quail: Elegance Meets Excess

No ticket is more coveted during Car Week than the one to The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering—a place where manicured lawns, champagne flutes, and private Patek Philippe showings frame the world’s most exclusive automotive salon.

This year, technology stole the show. Bugatti unveiled its ethereal Brouillard, a Chiron-based grand tourer with bodywork inspired by Art Deco glasswork. Its pale-blue lacquer shimmered translucently under the California sun. Ford drew gasps with the Mustang GTD Liquid Carbon, a track weapon wearing exposed weave carbon and bristling with aero hardware—street legal but born for GT3 circuits.

Hennessey shocked even the most jaded enthusiasts with the Venom F5 Revolution F, boasting an unfathomable 2,031 horsepower and a 320-mph target. General Motors doubled down on its presence, presenting both Corvette’s CX/CX.R and Cadillac’s halo EV, turning Monterey into its unofficial global auto show stage.

Beyond the unveilings, The Quail retained its hallmark lifestyle aura. Guests strolled between ceviche stations and caviar bars, swapping tales of Alpine garages and private racetracks in Texas. As ever, The Quail balanced cars, culture, and lifestyle—but this year, the cars undeniably stole the spotlight.

Racing, Rallies, and Realities

Away from concours lawns and champagne flutes, the visceral roar of engines remained central to Car Week.

The Tour d’Elegance stretched 70 miles down Highway 1, turning Big Sur cliffs into a living automotive mural. Locals lined the roadside as Duesenbergs, Bugattis, and Porsche 917Ks paraded past—a living link to Monterey’s history. At Laguna Seca, vintage Can-Am and IMSA machines thundered through the Corkscrew, evoking the raw spectacle of 1970s racing. Forums buzzed with debates over originality versus restoration, highlighting a new truth: in today’s market, patina is increasingly as prized as concours shine.

Not all was perfect—drama struck when a rare Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster LP 640 was damaged in a three-car incident near Laguna Seca. Thankfully, injuries were minor, though egos weren’t as easily repaired.

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance: The Grand Finale

The week crescendoed, as always, at Pebble Beach with the Concours d’Elegance. On the emerald fairways overlooking the Pacific, the Concours d’Elegance once again reaffirmed its role as the world’s ultimate automotive pageant.

Best of Show went to the Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo, with its aircraft-inspired wooden coachwork restored to perfection. Judges praised its authenticity and rare elegance, calling it “a rolling sculpture of early 20th-century imagination.”

Other standouts included a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150C SS Teardrop Coupé, a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider, and an Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, each celebrated for provenance and purity.

Beyond the Machines

Monterey Car Week isn’t simply a celebration of automobiles—it is a meditation on their meaning. The auctions proved that history still carries enormous emotional and financial weight. The Concept Lawn showed us how the industry envisions a post-carbon future, the Quail reminded us of the inseparable link between motoring and lifestyle, and Pebble Beach’s Concourse brought it all full circle, with timeless elegance crowning the event.

In an era of digitization and autonomous driving, Monterey Car Week 2025 reaffirmed one timeless truth: passion for the automobile remains analog, visceral, and deeply human.