Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann is standing on the show stage and, after a short speech, has the cloth pulled from the new Lanzador – an electric SUV in bright blue that is well worth seeing and will not celebrate its market premiere until 2028. The way it looks, it could be rolling down the world’s autobahns as early as next year. The Lamborghini stand at the luxury event The Quail is bursting at the seams as the sun breaks through the clouds, hundreds of cameras click and visitors and officials compete to smile. After less than ten minutes, the pack moves on – to the next world premiere. The Quail – a Motorsports Gathering – is the luxury fair of modern times. More beautiful, more exclusive, more expensive and everyone loves cars.
At best, it is of marginal interest what kind of drive the vehicles on the stages have. Electric models are only slowly taking over the reins, because regardless of the drive, it is all about enjoying the car itself. Among the several thousand visitors who paid up to $3,000 for a ticket on the black market, nobody is interested in climate adhesives, the IAA in Munich or the semiconductor crisis that is far from over. Rolls-Royce had recently unveiled its electric luxury coupé Specter, Rimac CEO Mate Rimac a 12-series special edition Nevera and Ford let its super sports car Mustang GTD shine in the sunlight, while Bugatti unveiled its one-off Chiron Golden Era. Maserati unveils its 730 hp MCXtrema, Kia presents its electric luxury SUV EV9 to the elite clientele and Aston Martin could not imagine a better place than to showcase its open-top DB12 Volante for the first time.
Meanwhile, two Meyers Manx buggies play promotionally in a sand bunker on the recently repurposed The Quail golf course. The audience is as exclusive as the admission prices would suggest. But not everything takes place on The Quail golf course, because the more down-to-earth fan events such as Legends of Autobahn with the classics from Audi, BMW and Mercedes, the Concours de Lemons, the Concorso Italiano or the Little Car Show will not be held this year either much less attention. Some manufacturers unveil the new models at their very own events. Mercedes is impressively celebrating the world premiere of its new AMG GT Coupé, Bentley is showing its luxury model Bentayga Extended Wheelbase Mulliner and Ferrari is celebrating a fiery red evening with its Roma Spider.
But anyone who thinks that the Monterey Car Week is primarily a wacky event of a sick luxury league is very wrong. Car fans from all over the USA, Asia and Europe come to Monterey and pay homage to the car in its entirety. Thousands of children and adults stand at crossroads for days, populate supermarket parking lots, visit fan clubs and take photos with smartphones and digital cameras. Envy and resentment are just as in vain as hatred of the car. Nowhere else in the world do super sports cars worth millions stand so naturally next to lowriders or VW Bullis, which have seen better days. Everywhere there is a beaming thumbs up for the mobile gems, people talk shop and discuss, while a Jaguar D-Type rolls by on Cannery Row and thousands of car collectors set off for the multi-million dollar auctions that RM Sothebys, Goodings, Bonhams or Mecum are holding at the same time .
Are there only smiling faces and does Monterey Car Week get better every year? It is becoming more important every year, and hardly any of the international manufacturers can afford to be absent – especially if they want to shine in North America. But the cult events such as Legends of Autobahn, the Little Carhow in Pacific Grove or the Concours de Lemons with the biggest rattles in Salinas no longer have the crazy fan charm of a few years ago. There is no question that big commerce has long since moved in with the countless events of Pebble Beach and that costs both cult and charm. The question remains how long it will take for the Chinese car manufacturers to discover the Monterey Car Week for themselves, because there is no comparable event anywhere in the world combining old and new, expensive and cheap, elitist and a meeting place for fans.
