Monterey Car Week 2026 is once again drawing more than 100,000 visitors to the Monterey Peninsula for ten days of automotive spectacle and high-end deal-making.
The week culminates in Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the world-famous classic car competition that anchors the entire event each year.
Beyond the celebrated car show, the week is packed with major auctions, luxury vehicle debuts, and significant executive commentary on the state of the high-end automotive market.
Classic car insurer Hagerty (HGTY) projects total auction sales could reach as high as $496 million this year, which would mark the highest figure since 2022.
That would represent a sharp recovery from last year’s $432.7 million in total sales across houses including Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s, Gooding and Company, and Hagerty’s own Broad Arrow.
“Live auction sales are up 28% over the past 12 months and, with the stock market nearing record highs, we expect strong bidding,” Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty said in a statement.
He added, “Additionally, we’re seeing younger collectors increasingly chasing the cars they grew up dreaming about,” signaling a generational shift in who is driving auction demand.
Hagerty also noted that while vintage Ferraris (RACE) typically dominate results, modern supercars from 1984 to present are expected to account for 60% of total sales this year.
On the new car side, Lamborghini (VWAGY) is expected to reveal a harder, faster version of its Revuelto V12 supercar, resurrecting the legendary SV, or Super Veloce, trim level.
A camouflaged Revuelto SV reportedly set a production-car lap record at the Hockenheim test track, building anticipation for what could be one of the week’s most dramatic reveals.
Bugatti will debut its one-of-one Destrier, a creation based on the Bolide track car but stripped of its aggressive aerodynamics, sitting with a roof height less than three feet off the ground.
Ferrari (RACE) is set to publicly debut the 12Cilindri Manuale, featuring an innovative transmission that functions as both a manual and an automatic, alongside a mysterious creation from its Special Projects Division.
Aston Martin (ARGGY) is bringing a trio of special-edition DB12 S models, but the company also changed its social media logo to red and teased, “We’ve been keeping something quiet,” hinting at a larger announcement.
McLaren is also expected to unveil a significant new supercar, reportedly tied to founder Bruce McLaren and described internally as offering a more old-school character.
More mainstream brands are joining the action, with Cadillac (GM) teasing a motorsports-derived concept at the Quail event on Friday, building on the brand’s Formula One and endurance racing ambitions.
Acura (HMC) is also using the Quail event to introduce a new design direction, with the fresh aesthetic expected to eventually debut on the next-generation RDX as Honda shifts toward hybrids.
The executive presence this year is notable, with Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, McLaren CEO Nick Collins, Aston Martin’s Adrian Hallmark, and Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac all confirmed to be in attendance.
Every one of those executives has signaled that business remains strong and that production for the current year is already fully spoken for across their respective brands.
The broader question hanging over the week is whether the pool of ultra-wealthy luxury consumers will continue to expand, or whether exclusive automakers will soon be competing for an increasingly limited group of buyers.
With stocks at all-time highs and the so-called K-shaped economy concentrating spending power at the top, Monterey Car Week 2026 may offer the clearest real-world signal yet of just how durable luxury demand truly is.
