Three Incredible New Hypercars From The Monterey Car Week

Just last week, we showed you a pair of stunning Porsches made by Singer Vehicle Design and, surprisingly, Louis Vuitton, launched at the 2026 Monterey Car Week. It was a week full of surprises, with records being shattered left and right for some of the rarest and most special cars, both old and new (40 million for the first-ever production Ferrari Luce, 43 million for a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, 35 million for Nick Mason’s pop-art McLaren F1 GTR and so on). But as you might have expected, that’s far from the only news coming from the California peninsula. Limiting myself to just three of the new cars launched, I have gone for a remake of what’s considered by many to be the ultimate supercar, the return of a historic Dutch name, and a British Bruiser making more than just a visual statement!

GMSV S1

Just look at it. Look… at… it. Once you’ve picked up your jaw from the floor again, allow me to introduce you to the GMSV S1. It is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and understandably so, as it not only looks like a new, tauter version of the fabled McLaren F1, it’s made by the same man: Gordon Murray. His Gordon Murray Special Vehicles team has paid tribute to the original, but not for the first time. Last year, they introduced the special project S1 LM, which represented a modern take on the F1 GTR, the peak performance variant of the road-going F1 and the one that was turned into a Le Mans race winner.

Last year’s S1 LM was a vision of what a McLaren F1 GTR would look like if it were designed and constructed now, instead of 30 or so years ago, and the same goes for this S1. And where the S1 LM was limited to just 5 cars, all sold to one owner, this one is a little bit less limited by number. Only 64 will be made, which is still not a lot, but there’s at least a tiny bit more chance you might actually see one at events like the Concorso d’Eleganza, the Tegernsee concours, or the Hampton Court Concours. Anyway, the refresh is subtle yet striking, with a slightly more aggressive “face” up front, reshaped vents and intakes along the side, tighter lines towards the rear and that signature double taillight and exhaust set-up. And yes, it goes without saying the driver sits in the centre and can take two mates if wanted. One of the design elements I rather love is the way the main beam lights are integrated in the front bumper.

The rear clamshell hides a 4.2-litre naturally aspirated V12 with a 12,100rpm redline developed by Cosworth. Given the car’s weight of less than 1,000 kilos, the 690 horsepower the engine puts through the six-speed manual to the rear wheels only will make for a rather thrilling ride for sure! There’s no word on performance, and it’s doubtful it will ever be tested to its limit publicly, but I sure would love to see it and hear it being put through its paces (Hagerty, if you please…). A price, however irrelevant it may be for a car that is sold out already, is not mentioned either, although I am pretty sure it will be a couple of million. After all, last year’s S1 LM already cost 5 million per car, and a year on, life hasn’t exactly gotten any cheaper!

For more information, please visit GordonMurray.com.

Spyker C8 Preliator XXV

This year’s Monterey Car Week was the stage for Dutch entrepreneur Victor Muller to once again return with the name Spyker. Facing many challenges following a failed takeover of Saab, Spyker Cars is officially back in action after a ten-year hiatus. And it’s back with a new car, sort of, in the form of the C8 Preliator XXV. Limited to just 25 units, this basically takes off where the C8 and C12 left us, with a similar aviation-inspired design ethos that has expressed itself through some insane attention to detail.

For starters, the combination of green and rose gold debut car might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it sure adds a touch of drama to any driveway! The C8 Preliator XXV has a fully hand-built aluminium exterior, with NACA ducts, fins, a roof scoop and plenty more lines, vents and intakes to accentuate the design. A design which, by the way, is an evolution of the C8 Preliator as revealed a decade ago, which never made it into production. Refreshed, it appears that we finally have a living, breathing Spyker again!

The C8 Preliator XXV relies on Audi power, in the form of a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 putting out 800 horsepower and 1,000Nm of torque. The top speed, thanks to all that “oomph”, is said to be 350kph, which I guess explains the need for the stabilising fin down the rear deck. As with the GMSV S1, the power is fed through a six-speed manual transmission, with an exposed gear-linkage in the interior, a Spyker design signature. With a starting price of around EUR 1.5 million, it sure fits in with today’s hypercar market. There are also talks about the D12 Peking to Paris finally entering production, and a GT3 racing program, but time will tell what will come of it all.

For more information, please visit SpykerCars.com.

Aston Martin Valen

Last but by no means least is Aston Martin’s latest and perhaps greatest V12 machine, the Valen. And boy, does it make a statement! Not just with its wild colour-shifting special paint job, but also thanks to some of the most aggressive styling ever seen on a road-going Aston Martin, apart from the Vulcan, Valkyrie and Valhalla maybe. It starts with a huge front grille just barely reminiscent of the iconic fascia that graced virtually all AM’s before it. Mean-looking headlights above it, and a long bonnet with multiple cuts and vents make for a dramatic front-end.

And it doesn’t stop there, as down the side of the full carbon fibre body there are slashes in the side skirt as it were an F1 car on steroids, and it wraps up in a very sharply cut rear section with a pretty massive integrated rear wing and a huge diffuser, both finished in silver. There are two sets of exhausts, one up high that’s fully opened permanently and one down low with a valve system that opens and closes depending on the driving mode. The system is engineered to provide you with the best possible soundtrack in any gear, at any speed and across the whole rev range. Best warn your neighbours in advance if you’ve put a down-payment on one of these…

Jokes aside, this could very well be the last great V12 Grand Tourer by Aston Martin, as it’s no secret they are dying as an automotive species. The one hiding in the front of the Valen has a capacity of 5.2 litres and is assisted by two turbochargers to pump out no less than 850 horsepower! That makes it Aston Martin’s most powerful V12 to date, and certainly one that will leave a lasting impression when you hammer it! All that power is sent through an 8-speed automatic transmission, and to the rear wheels only. The engine, according to Aston Martin themselves, is purposefully built for “immediacy and response”, so you can rest assured it’s a lively one. Just how lively? Well, a solid 3 seconds to go from zero to 100kph, and a limited top speed of 345kph.

The interior for the Valen might just be as dramatic as the exterior, although Aston Martin claims it’s the “epicentre of minimalist design”. Ok, sure. Just ignore the bright orange accents, the 3D-printed centre console elements and so on. And yes, I am pretty sure that each of the 150 lucky owners of the Valen can and will go bespoke from bumper to bumper. The price starts at a cool USD 2 million.

For more information, please visit AstonMartin.com.

Editorial Note – The information used and images portrayed in this article are sourced from and used with permission of Gordon Murray Special Vehicles, Spyker Cars and Aston Martin Lagonda, unless stated otherwise.