Monaco is a place where a Lamborghini parked on a double yellow line barely earns a second glance. The streets are too narrow, the residents too wealthy, and the general atmosphere too relentlessly glamorous for anyone to get particularly excited about a supercar. And yet, every May, Top Marques arrives and even Monaco raises an eyebrow. The 2026 edition runs from 7 to 10 May at the Grimaldi Forum, and it is the largest, most ambitious show in the event’s 21-year history.
The numbers are worth stating plainly. More than 235 vehicles across 11,500 square metres of the Grimaldi Forum. Sixteen global and European premieres. A dedicated luxury tuning hall making its debut. A new public voting award. A hypercar making over 2,000 horsepower. And an exclusive preview evening on 6 May under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II, which is about as good an endorsement as any car show could hope to receive.
Speaking at the Casino de Monte-Carlo launch, event director Emeric Garcia pointed to record attendance and strong sales figures from 2025 as the motivation behind the expanded 2026 edition. When an event is growing in an era when large-scale luxury shows elsewhere are contracting, that is worth paying attention to.
THE HEADLINE DEBUTS
Sixteen premieres is a serious number for any show, and several of them deserve particular attention. The most eyebrow-raising is the Krafla hypercar from Giamaro Automobili, which apparently produces in excess of 2,000 horsepower. For context, a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport makes 1,600hp and was, for a while, considered a reasonable approximation of the end of the road. The Krafla would like a word. Details on how Giamaro Automobili intends to deploy two thousand horsepower on public roads remain, at the time of writing, somewhat vague. We look forward to finding out.
German newcomer OQTA will also be making its public debut, targeting the ultra-luxury collector segment with its first creation, while Baltasar brings a lightweight high-performance model to the Grimaldi Forum floor. Both represent the kind of small-volume, intensely specialised new manufacturers that Monaco, more than anywhere else, can actually find buyers for. The Audi RS5 in its latest iteration will appear alongside electric models from Chinese brand Zeekr, including the 7GT and 001, continuing the show’s careful expansion into electrification without abandoning the combustion-engined machinery its audience primarily comes to see.
The established names are, as ever, present and correct. Bugatti, Pagani and Maserati are confirmed, alongside newer entrants including Praga and the revived French marque Delage, whose return to production remains one of the more romantically implausible stories in recent automotive history. That it is happening at all is a minor miracle. That it is showing at Monaco feels entirely appropriate.
THE HIGHLIGHTS BY HALL
One of the more genuinely interesting additions for 2026 is the new Luxury Tuners Hall, which makes its debut this year and features Mansory, ABT Sportsline and TechArt. The centrepiece is the world debut of the Carbonado X by Mansory, based on a Lamborghini Revuelto, which arrives at a moment when the standard Revuelto SV is being spotted at the Nürburgring making somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 horsepower. What Mansory intends to do to a Revuelto on top of that is something we are not entirely sure the world is prepared for. Also appearing in the hall are new projects from ABT’s Monaco partner Stars MC.
The Diaghilev Hall is where collectors will spend most of their time. A curated selection of rare and historic models, including a Ferrari Dino and a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, will be displayed alongside pieces from the personal collection of Prince Albert II himself, which is not the sort of thing you see at the NEC Birmingham.
Beyond cars, the motorcycle section has been significantly broadened this year, with Brough Superior, Ducati and Harley-Davidson all confirmed. The collaboration between Brough Superior and watchmaker Richard Mille is expected to draw particular attention, uniting two brands that share an almost pathological approach to engineering complexity and an equally pathological approach to pricing.
SOMETHING GENUINELY NEW
For the first time in the show’s history, visitors will be invited to vote in the inaugural Visitors’ Top Marques Awards, with categories covering best supercar, top luxury tuner and leading classic car display. Winners are to be announced on the final day, 10 May. It is a small but meaningful addition: shows that trust their audience to have an opinion tend to be more interesting than those that simply present and expect admiration.
The programme also includes a public appearance by automotive influencer GMK, who is scheduled to host a meet-and-greet session, and the event’s continued backing by major partners including Dassault Aviation. Top Marques now sits within the Informa Prestige network alongside the Monaco Yacht Show, which says something about the company it keeps and the audience it is increasingly designed to serve.