Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este comprises eight vehicle categories +++ Public Days in the grounds of Villa Erba have a festival feel +++ BMW Group celebrates premiere of an elegantly sporty one-off +++ Various facets to BMW Group presence +++ Amici & Automobili – Wheels & Weisswürscht brings a Bavarian flavour to the occasion +++ BMW Group Classic oversees sensitive evolution of prestigious concours event
On 19 – 21 May 2023, BMW Group Classic will host the legendary Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in cooperation with the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este. This year’s event will include the eight vehicle classes below:
Class A
A CENTURY OF THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS: HEROES OF THE MOST FAMOUS RACE IN THE WORLD
Class B
THE FAST AND THE FORMAL: PRE-WAR HIGH SPEED LUXURY
Class C
GRANDE VITESSE: PRE-WAR WEEKEND RACERS
Class D
INCREDIBLE INDIA: THE DAZZLING MOTORING INDULGENCES OF THE MIGHTY MAHARAJAS
Class E
PORSCHE AT 75: DELVING INTO THE STUTTGART LEGEND’S ICONIC AND ECCENTRIC BACK CATALOGUE
Class F
GRANTURISMO: EXPERIMENTING WITH THE POST-WAR EUROPEAN GT
Class G
THAT ‘MADE IN ITALY’ LOOK: STYLES WHICH CONQUERED NEW WORLDS
Class H
HERE COMES THE SUN: ’TOPLESS’ DONE DIFFERENTLY!
Awards will also be presented in a special category for spectacular concept cars from various manufacturers.
The Concorso d’Eleganza parade at the Villa d’Este will take place in customary style on the Saturday of the event. The Best of Show will be crowned by the Jury, with the vehicle in question being presented with the Trofeo BMW Group on Sunday evening. Beyond the top prize, the participants and competing vehicles at the Concorso will each battle it out for victory in their individual categories, for the Coppa d’Oro prize awarded by Public Referendum and for an array of other distinctions such as the Trofeo del Presidente, which will be presented by Helmut Käs, Head of BMW Group Classic and President of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
Speaking of awards, the BMW Group Classic brand ambassador and star tenor Jonas Kaufmann has been handed a special task: he will present the Trofeo Il Canto del Motore for the best engine sound, as chosen by the Jury. BMW Group Classic brand ambassador and racing driver Bruno Spengler will also be at the event.
On Sunday 21 May, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este Public Day – Il festival in the grounds of the nearby Villa Erba will once again give the wider public the opportunity to experience the parade of all the cars in the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. But that’s not all: this will be a day of attractions extending beyond the cars themselves, with a richly varied programme of music and entertainment laid on for the whole family. The vehicles entered in the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este will be on display here before the parade and can be admired at close quarters.
The BMW Group will also be presenting spectacular new vehicles with leading-edge technology on the Sunday, from a very special BMW M car and MINI Cooper SE Convertible (power consumption combined: 17.2 kWh/100 km according to WLTP; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km) to an electric scooter from BMW Motorrad. A new all-electric M Performance model of the BMW 7 Series will also be shown in an exclusive “two-tone” livery.
Plus, in a highlight addition to the programme, the BMW Group will be celebrating the premiere of an elegantly sporty, one-off homage to motoring for two.
BMW M GmbH will be bringing a very special automotive guest to Lake Como: the new edition of the legendary BMW 3.0 CSL (Fuel consumption combined: 11.0 l/100 km; CO2 emissions combined: 249 g/km according to WLTP; details according to NEDC: –) This show-stopping car will be on display both at Villa d’Este on Saturday and at Villa Erba on Sunday, flanked by its illustrious ancestor, the BMW 3.0 CSL from 1973.
Visitors to this year’s event will also be able to admire the Rolls-Royce Spectre (WLTP combined: power consumption: 21.5* kWh/100 km; electric range: 520* kilometers; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km.* Preliminary data — vehicle still in homologation), the marque’s first fully electric model, in the magnificent mosaic garden at Villa d’Este. The Spectre marks the transition of Rolls-Royce into an all-electric age, and the company has confirmed that its entire product range will be electric-only by the end of 2030.
The Amici & Automobili – Wheels & Weisswürscht event familiar to many from its Munich roots will bring a taste of Bavaria to the Concorso on Saturday 20 May – likewise in the grounds of Villa Erba. Vehicles of all types will be celebrated here and models from all brands brought over by car clubs and communities from around the world will be given a warm welcome.
Before the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este itself gets underway, the now traditional Prelude Tour will take centre stage. This year, it will include a stop-off at the Monza race circuit. The cars will arrive at Cernobbio’s harbour late in the afternoon on 18 May and be on display for the public.
These myriad attractions and the multi-faceted nature of the event reinforce the commitment of BMW Group Classic – as the event organiser – to evolve the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este with sensitivity and without detracting excessively from its historic character. This is in keeping with its goal of making the event more accessible to the wider public through the integration of various thematic focal points and of celebrating cars as a cultural asset.
Villa d’Este, Lake Como, and the outstanding surroundings provide the perfect frame in which the most extraordinary automobiles of their era glitter like precious gems. The aura of a unique classic event, the value of the masterpieces exhibited, and the perfection of this iconic hotel form a sublime symbiosis that, in May every year, combines tradition with the contemporary era. It is precisely this that has ensured the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este’s special flair since 1929.
The winner of the Trofeo BMW Group – Best of Show will be the recipient of a special timepiece from A. Lange & Söhne: the unique 1815 CHRONOGRAPH in 18-carat white gold with solid pink gold dial and hand-engraved Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este crest on the hinged cuvette.
Through its partnership with the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, which began in 2012, the German watchmaker focuses on the historic links between motorsport and timekeeping. The partnership is also shaped by a shared commitment to tradition, handcraftsmanship and mechanical innovation.
RM Sotheby’s is the official auction partner of BMW Group Classic this year. Among the items going under the hammer in the grounds of Villa Erba on Saturday 20 May are several BMW M models from a private collector.
The organisers would once again like to thank long-standing partners A. Lange & Söhne, Vranken Pommery and wwwe GmbH.
You can secure yourself tickets for the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este on Saturday 20 May here: https://www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com/packages-tickets/
Tickets for Amici & Automobili – Wheels & Weisswürscht on Saturday 20 May and the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este Public Day – Il festival, including the vehicle parade, on Sunday 21 May are available here: https://www.ticketone.it/en/artist/concorso-eleganza/
