BMW Wants Villa d'Este To Become Its Own Monterey Car Week

BMW has had ties to the Concorso D'Eleganza Villa d'Este for the past decade but now has plans to turn this one event into a massive week-long car show to rival Monterey Car Week and perhaps even the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Speaking to media at Villa d'Este this past weekend, where BMW revealed the Concept Touring Coupe based on the Z4 Roadster, BMW Group design boss Adrian van Hooydonk spoke of something called Como Car Week.

Van Hooydonk described Villa d'Este as "the ultimate meeting for car lovers, people passionate about cars, mobility, and design," saying that this year, the automaker tried to build upon what had transpired in years gone by. The weather may have been less than ideal, with floods ravaging many parts of Italy, even leading to the cancellation of the Imola F1 Grand Prix, but BMW still added new activities to the roster of events.

"This morning, as you saw on the lawn, there is the classic car event. And then this afternoon, there will be the classic car parade," said van Hooydonk, which are the standard activities visitors to Villa d'Este are accustomed to. "But yesterday and the day before ... we did some track days in Monza, which was the first time, so we want to try to add some things to the weekend; that could make it also a bit more interactive and a bit more exciting."

Those who have followed the Monterey Car Week will know that it's about far more than merely the Pebble Beach Concorso d'Elegance and that nearby Laguna Seca is used for displays of concept cars, sports cars, supercars, and even classic race cars on track.

BMW wants to emulate this with Monza, the F1 circuit that is only 32 miles away from Villa d'Este.

This would not only be used to showcase current BMW models and concepts but also to let owners of various classics and race cars take part, with van Hooydonk stating that some of the allure is that "people that have older race cars can enjoy them on the track."

There are currently several other events near Villa d'Este for gearheads to enjoy that BMW wants to assimilate with the primary festivities.

"There is a tour going on through the mountains here in preparation also for the participants. And then there's the FuoriConcorso, which happens in three villas further down the road towards Como," says van Hooydonk. He says that the BMW Group has "connected with them," summarizing that "we are trying to build this into something that maybe one day can be called 'Como Car Week.'"