Every new supercar debuting during Monterey Car Week 2021

For a week each August the coastal California town of Monterey is home to a slew of classic and modern automotive events, known collectively as Monterey Car Week.

More than 30 events make up the Car Week calendar, all concluded by the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, a prestigious car show hosted (nearly) every year since 1950 that sees approximately 200 classic collector cars judged on their style, technological significance, authenticity and restoration.

It’s not just classic cars that attract attention at the show, as many of the world’s sports, super and luxury car brands use the Monterey festivities and Pebble Beach event to reveal their latest models. Here is every new car slated to make its global debut in California this week.

Alongside the new Mercedes-AMG-powered Valhalla hybrid hypercar, iconic British brand Aston Martin will reveal a “new performance product” at Pebble Beach.

While the model’s identity hasn’t been confirmed, a teaser image released by the marque shows its hardcore Valkyrie hypercar with a opening in its roof from the windscreen to the passengers’ headrests – with this new convertible model likely to gain the Roadster or Volante name.

Expect the Valkyrie coupe’s 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated Cosworth V12, single-motor hybrid system and Formula One-derived aerodynamics to carry over, though the fixed-roof car’s ‘gullwing’ doors will be swapped out for a pair of ‘scissor’ units, as seen in the teaser image.

The open-roof Valkyrie will be unveiled to VIP visitors on August 12, before driving out into the public spotlight on August 13 (US time).

The first of three new autonomous ‘Sphere’ concepts from Audi, the Skysphere takes the shape of an all-electric convertible, with long-bonnet, short-deck styling inspired by 1930s roadsters.

Full details of the concept will be made official early on Wednesday morning, Australian time. Stay tuned for Drive for the full reveal.

A year after the supercar’s discontinuation in Australia, Honda (and its luxury brand Acura) is preparing to send its NSX halo car in and out of its final year of global production with a bang: a flagship Type S variant.

Limited to just 350 units globally – 300 of which are destined for the US, and a further 30 for Japan – the NSX Type S represents the current-generation model’s last dance, with production to end in December 2022 once all Type S cars have emerged from the factory doors.

The special edition will extract more performance and acceleration from the ‘base’ car’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6, three electric motors and all-wheel drive system, with power to increase beyond the standard model’s 427kW.

A more aggressive aerodynamics package will be offered, plus a stiffer chassis delivering a sharper drive.

Stay tuned for Drive for more details on the Honda NSX Type S, once it is revealed on August 12, US time.

The first production version of the Pininfarina Battista electric hypercar will debut during Monterey Car Week, some two and a half years after the near-production car made its debut.

Finished in exposed carbon-fibre on the outside, with ‘sustainable’ black leather and blue contrast stitching on the inside, the production car will be powered by the same Rimac-sourced 1417kW/2300Nm quad-motor electric powertrain as the 2019 show car.

It’s the most powerful and quickest-accelerating road car to come out of Italy, with a sub-two-second run from zero to 100km/h claimed.

The series-production Battista will be unveiled on August 12 (US time), alongside the display of a special-edition Anniversario variant.

Joining the aforementioned list are a selection of cars that, while they won’t be unveiled for the first time during Monterey Car Week, will be seen in the metal by the public for the first time at the California gathering. These include:

Italy’s Lamborghini has previously confirmed it will unveil a new supercar in the northern summer of 2021, which concludes at the end of August. While not confirmed, the attention and crowds attracted by Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours would make for the perfect stage to debut the brand’s new model, which is rumoured to draw technologies from the V12 hybrid-powered Sian of 2019.