Monterey Car Week Round Up – What Vehicles Are Strutting Their Stuff On The Green?

Monterey Car Week is the one time of the year when sleek exotic cars, iconic classics, and other vehicular oddballs strut their stuff for the crowds at Pebble Beach. Headlight News takes you on a brief dive to show you a few of the vehicles that will be making their debut during Monterey Car Week.

Monterey Car Week promises to be an elegant expression of vehicular design with a wide array of concepts, show cars, and other vehicles making their presence felt during Monterey Car Week and the subsequent Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance which have both grown in popularity over the past few decades.

But which vehicles should you see if you make your way to the event? Headlight News has picked out a few of them that might catch your eye with some making their production debuts on the greens of Pebble Beach while others shine the spotlight on future plans for their respective brands.

Honda HP-X is a blast from the past

With Acura showing “The Acura Performance Concept” at Monterey, parent company Honda is taking inspiration from the past and will be showing off the fully restored HP-X concept. The HP-X first made its debut in 1984 at the Turin Motor Show and was supposed to show off a potential wedge-shaped sports car entry for the performance market. Unfortunately, the job fell to the Acura NSX and the HP-X was forgotten about until Honda decided to do a full restoration of the concept to make it look as good as it did in the 1980s.

This particular vehicle will be competing in the “Wedge Shaped Concepts and Prototypes” class where it will share the lawn with other wedge-shaped show cars. The class itself also pays homage to an era where wedge-shaped designs were viewed as futuristic and sleek before automotive design went in a more rounded direction that saw the wedge shape be phased out by the 1990s.

Acura Performance Concept previews new EV SUV model

Unlike Honda, Acura is looking to the future at Monterey with the brand unveiling the “Performance EV Concept.” While the name is a bit bland, the concept is previewing a potential performance model from the brand with the SUV featuring a sloping rear roof line, an aggressively styled front end, and a stylish rear end that gets a full-width lightbar. Large 23-inch wheels and neon green brake calipers help provide plenty of visual jewelry but Acura didn’t reveal any images of the interior so we get to wait a bit for that information to emerge.

The SUV is reportedly built on Honda’s dedicated EV architecture and unlike the ZDX it will not use GM’s Ultium platform with the concept potentially getting its motivation from electric motors that were built in-house. Look for this SUV to enter production since the other four concepts that Acura brought to Monterey prior to this one entered production after making their respective debuts at the event.

NILU V-12 Hypercar is the purist special we never knew we wanted

In addition to established automotive companies making their respective debuts, several other independent automakers are also making their first appearance at Monterey Car Week. One of these firms is Nilu27 which is producing its first ever V12 powered hypercar. The company was founded by former Bugatti and Koenigsegg designer Sasha Selipanov with his past experience playing a role in the core design of the NILU which is futuristic while also embodying select design elements from 1990s era performance machines like the McLaren F1.

The headline grabber here though is the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 which is mounted at the rear of the car. The company still has not confirmed how much horsepower the car makes but did say it should make over 1,000 hp. The engine’s biggest claim to fame though is the way it flips the throttle bodies around with the exhaust gases exiting out of a vertically mounted triple exhaust system. Look for this feature to help draw in plenty of stares during Monterey Car Week.

More Monterey Car Week Stories

• Cadillac Opulent Velocity Concept Balances, Luxury, Performance and Technology
• NILU V-12 Hypercar Is Nod To The Purists, Makes 1,000 hp
• BMW Unveils 2025 M5 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance #1/1

Cadillac Opulent Velocity foreshadows brand’s EV future

Cadillac’s all-electric Opulent Velocity concept is attempting to show where Cadillac’s plans for electrification are going next. The sleek prototype is serving as a rolling test bed for future EV assembly techniques and will also be previewing new technologies that will eventually make their way to future Cadillac products. “Opulent Velocity is an experience-based design study” that offers the brand’s “future vision of luxury performance,” said Bryan Nesbitt, executive director of Global Cadillac Design.

The Opulent Velocity is the latest in a recent line of Cadillac vehicles that include the Optiq EV CUV as well as the Sollei convertible concept with these models and more all meant to build excitement for the brand’s lineup of upcoming all-electric vehicles, though the Opulent Velocity’s appearance also comes as the brand recently admitted that it won’t reach a 100% lineup of electric vehicles by 2030. Rumors stated that the Opulent Velocity could be teasing an all-electric hypercar model but the brand says the concept is purely an experimental model for now.

BMW goes bespoke with 2025 M5 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance #1/1

BMW is no stranger to wowing the crowds at Monterey Car Week and it looks to continue building on this tradition with the 2025 BMW M5 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance #1/1. This bespoke M5 will be the first of the 2025 models to be delivered into the U.S. and it will also be the only one in the entire production run to get BMW Individual Frozen Orange Metallic which was briefly brought back from retirement just for this particular build. Orange accents also make their way into the interior and BMW added other bespoke features to make it stand out from the rest.

These options weren’t cheap with the company saying it put over $57,000 in bespoke extras into the car. After the car makes its debut at Monterey, it will be auctioned off for charity with the winner getting delivery of the car in mid-October. The new owner will be very pleased with the performance they have on hand with all models being powered by a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that has been equipped with a M Hybrid system to produce 717 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque.

 

Lincoln Navigator wows the crowds with more tech and luxury

Lincoln wanted to make a splash when it unveiled the 2025 Lincoln Navigator SUV especially with the outgoing model losing ground in sales to rivals like the Cadillac Escalade and the Range Rover. The 2025 model helps bring the big SUV into the digital age with new front and rear styling and an interior that gets even more luxury and technology features crammed into it. They include a 48-inch infotainment screen that stretches over the top of the dashboard and a reworked center console that includes a large volume knob made out of crystal glass.

Lincoln axed the Premier model and will now only sell the 2025 Navigator either as a Reserve or Black Label model. But don’t let the slimmed-down trim ladder dissuade you since Lincoln is making up for it by offering buyers more personalization options with a Jet Black Appearance Package and two new Black Label themes including an “Atmospheric” theme that gives the SUV bold copper accents and wood trim with laser etched dots in it. The Black Label also gets a “Rejuvenate” feature that uses the infotainment system, digital scent feature, the driver seat, and more to create a relaxation experience for the driver when the SUV is parked.

Which vehicle are you looking forward to seeing during Monterey Car Week? Let us know in the comments and tell us what you think?