The Lincoln Model L100 Concept keeps it bold. This ride has a 100 percent vegan interior and a digital floor.
Eclipsing both the Geneva and Shanghai Motor Shows — long the standard bearers for super and hypercar reveals — the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and its sister show The Quail have turned what was once an affluent yet sleepy part of Northern California into the world’s mecca for deep-pocketed car collectors looking to buy, buy, buy.
The pinnacle of automotive events during Monterey Car Week held every third week of August, this year’s edition not only marked the full return of the the grand showcase, post-COVID, but shattered world records in sales (a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante sold for $10.345 million) while raising more than $2.67 million for charity through the Pebble Beach Company Foundation.
But what should a true car lover take from the show? What cars truly moved the needle? Here, we highlight 15 debuts — plus one extraordinary Best in Show winner — from the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance:
Acura Precision EV Concept
Acura previewed its foray into an all-electric future with the Precision EV Concept, whose design language and styling cues lay the template for the highly-anticipated 2024 ZDX SUV. Inspired by “luxury Italian powerboats” and built from 100 percent sustainable materials, the crossover-style EV boasts a floating roofline, rear boat-tail styling with split spoiler, new “Particle Glitch” grille that harkens on familial DNA and, on the inside, a large, curved, transparent touchscreen centered by a yoke steering wheel.
Aston Martin DBR22
A retro roadster for the lucky few, the DBR22 is a throwback supercar that honors the 10th anniversary of Aston Martin’s bespoke Q division. Much like its siblings the Vulcan and V600, the DBR22 is awash with heart-palpitating curves, a lip of a windshield and no roof whatsoever.
The exterior is entirely unique and composed fully of carbon fiber while the rear subframe is made of 3D-printed aluminum, natch. Under the hood sits a twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 good for 705 horsepower and top speed of 198 mph.
Outdoor Dining with Bering's
Audi Activesphere
Audi showcased all three “Sphere” concept vehicles — Grandsphere, Skysphere and Urbansphere — at Pebble and revealed a fourth concept car: Activesphere. No doubt any vehicle bearing the Quattro badge and brand know-how for producing World Rally Championship cars needs its off-road bases covered. While a full reveal will come in 2023, Audi’s newest electric rally fighter, with its menacing shape and large, knobby tires, looks ready to take charge.
Bentley Mulliner Batur
The British automaker isn’t leaving the world of ICEs (internal combustible engines) without a bang. The Mulliner Batur — limited to only 18 units with all already sold at roughly $2 million apiece — is the most powerful car to come out of Crewe. With an eye toward its EV future, the Batur is based on the popular Continental GT but rehashed with a distinct design DNA that features an eye-catching twin-pod headlamp design with sharp teardrop shape.
Bugatti Mistral
Call it a swan song, but shed no tears for this Bugatti. Only 99 examples of the Mistral roadster will be built, bearing the same 1,600 horsepower engine as its sibling Chiron on which it is based and making it the fastest open-top production car in the world. Like with many other hypercars, Bugatti is setting its sights on a purely electric lineup come 2026, so this is the last 16-cylinder vehicle that will be produced.
Cadillac Celestiq Concept
Having teased a digital debut last month, Cadillac’s in-person reveal of its EV flagship did not disappoint. Utilizing GM’s Ultium battery tech and Ultium Drive electric motors, the luxury four-door will debut GM’s hands-free Ultra Cruise technology, a highly advanced autonomous driving assistant.
With a price tag in the high $200,000 to low $300,000 range, production numbers will undoubtedly be low. But this hand-built hatchback will be customized to customer specification when it arrives in 2025.
DeLorean Alpha5
In case you haven’t noticed the trend, EV models ruled the roost at Pebble this year. DeLorean (yes, of Marty McFly fame) debuted its fully electric 2+2 grand tourer to much fanfare, beautifully showcased in a muted orange coupled with glossy black accents. Imagined by ItalDesign, the massive gullwing doors are present, as are the triple-layer LED taillights and the vented rear windscreen.
While its EV details remain unknown, the Alpha5 sits noticeably low, helping create an aerodynamically stunning squat complemented by sharp aero-style wheels.
Koenigsegg CC850
The CC850 marks two milestones for the Swedish hypercar brand: the 20th anniversary of the CC8S, Koenigsegg’s first-ever production car, and the birthday of the company’s founder. Larger in every way, the CC850’s style cues don’t stray far from the original — the most noticeable at the rear, which features rectangular tailights and a large diffuser.
Signature elements like a removable roof and synchrohelix doors are standard, as is an Autoskin function that opens all the doors and body panels at the press of a button. Its V8 produces 1,185 horsepower, mated to a transmission that allows for both manual and automatic shifting.
Lamborghini Urus Performante
Think of it as the ultra Urus, if you will. While no one ever complained that the standard Urus lacked power, Lamborghini being Lamborghini decided to up the ante with the Performante edition by massaging the 4.0-liter V8 to produce 657 horsepower while adding a new Rally drive mode.
The results allowed the Urus to break the production-SUV record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb by an astonishing 18 seconds. The Performante also sits lower, thanks to steel springs, while a new rear spoiler increases downforce by 38 percent.
Lexus Electrified Sport Concept
Presented as an eventual successor to the iconic LFA minus the V10 engine, the Electrified Sport Concept marks a pivotal new chapter for the automaker — one that adopts a fully-electric module using solid-state batteries that could garner up to 430 miles of range while reaching 62 miles per hour in the low two-second range. Details remain mum at this point, but stay tuned.
Lincoln Model L100 Concept
Lincoln celebrates its centennial with the debut of the Model L100 — its namesake derived from the 1922 Model L, the first vehicle Ford build after purchasing Lincoln. No tech specs have been revealed, but Lincoln says “next-generation battery cell and pack technologies will deliver game changing energy density and enable efficient, structural integration by treating the entire vehicle as a system.”
Lincoln, no stranger to bold design treatments, devised a reverse-hinged door system and a glass roof that all lift to reveal the 100 percent vegan cabin and “digital floor.”
Maserati MC20 Cielo Spyder
Cielo — which means “sky” in Italian — is a fitting moniker for the new spyder version of Maserati’s halo MC20 sports car. Its retractable “smart glass” roof can instantly be transformed from clear to opaque, thanks to Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) technology that offers a unique “sky feeling” when the roof is transparent.
The core components of the MC20 remain unchanged from its coupe sibling: an internally-produced Nettuno V6 engine delivering 621 horsepower boasting a pre-chamber combustion system featuring twin spark plugs, a technology derived from Formula 1 racing.
Meyers Manx 2.0
The California-based creator of the original dune buggy unveiled its first new car in six decades: the Manx 2.0 Electric. Unlike the original Manx, which rode on a VW Beetle chassis, this new car will use its own aluminum monocoque with independent suspension all around. Two battery sizes, a 20-kWh and a 40-kWh pack, deliver power to the rear wheels via two electric motors (one for each wheel) good for 300 miles of range, while four-wheel disc brakes and electrically assisted steering are standard.
Porsche 911 “Sally” Tribute
Perhaps the most limited of all the vehicle debuts (it’s an edition of one) at Pebble, this Pixar-inspired Porsche 911 “Sally Special” sold for an eye-watering $3.6 million at RM Sotheby’s, benefiting Girls Inc. and USA for UNHCR. The one-off 911 GTS, inspired by the Sally Carrera character in the beloved Pixar movie Cars, was created in cooperation with Porsche’s Exclusive Manufaktur division.
From the paint and 996-style wheels to a pinstripe under the spoiler and Pixar badges on the pillars, exclusive details abound on this fully functional car — down to the manual transmission.
Range Rover SV Carmel Edition
Range Rover somehow manages to consistently one-up itself when it comes to exclusivity. Revealed at its stunningly modern Range Rover House in Carmel, California, the new SV Carmel Edition — in satin bronze — boasts the SV’s four-seat cabin setup, trimmed in blue leather and trimmed with white ceramic controls and surfaces.
Land Rover will donate some proceeds from sales of the $345,000 super SUV to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Bonus: two sets of golf clubs also come in the trunk of every Carmel Edition.
Best in Show: 1932 Duesenberg J Figoni Sports Torpedo
Last but certainly not least, a one-of-a-kind car earned top billing at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance — but it used to be two cars. The first and only Duesenberg married to a Figoni et Falaschi sport torpedo style body, this American beauty featured a custom body built atop a stripped chassis.
This Duisenberg is the first American car to win Best in Show at Pebble since a 1934 Packard Twelve in 2013. Duesenberg has long been the winningest American marque at Pebble Beach, with six prior wins. This win brings its total to seven.
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