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2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Aston Martin reboots its EV offensive with Mercedes-Benz technology

Mercedes-Benz will provide Aston Martin the technology it needs to enter the electric car segment, according to the British firm's top executive. Its first battery-powered model is scheduled to arrive in 2025 at the earliest. As we've previously reported, Mercedes will increase its stake in Aston Martin to 20% by 2023. In exchange, it will grant the company access to its hybrid and electric powertrains. It's a win-win situation: On one hand, Mercedes can leverage the benefits of economies of scale. On the other hand, Aston Martin (which is far smaller) is able to access turn-key technology without spending an exorbitant amount of money on development. Executives are consequently rebooting Aston Martin's on-again, off-again electrification offensive. Its first electric model will be built using Mercedes-Benz-sourced technology when it goes on sale in 2025 or 2026, according to Automotive News Europe. Company boss Tobias Moers (who ran Mercedes-AMG until earlier in 2020) clarified the platform will come from Germany, but there's no word yet on whether the motor and the battery will, too. However, he confirmed plans to resurrect the Lagonda name on an electric-only sub-brand have been canceled. "Lagonda has a different purpose for the future. Electric-driven cars are supposed to be Aston Martins," he said. Hybrids are in the pipeline, too, including a gasoline-electric version of the high-riding DBX. Engineers were previously developing the technology in-house, but the project could end up in the automotive ash heap now that more Mercedes powertrains are in the picture. Moers affirmed he hasn't decided which route to take yet. "We are still working on that [hybrid drivetrain], but now we have alternatives. It's too early to say," he noted. Aston Martin will release the mid-engined Valhalla in 2021, and the plug-in hybrid DBX will begin rolling off the production line in 2023. Several new models will make their debut that year, Moers promised a "product firework," and it's reasonable to assume most will be available with some degree of electrification. He predicted every fourth or fifth car Aston Martin sells in 2024 will be electrified in one way or another. Green blues Aston Martin's path to electrification hasn't been smooth. In 2015, it joined forces with China-based LeEco to build an electric variant of the Rapide, but it was forced to finish the project on its own after its partner canceled the deal due to financial issues.

Five B-Class F-Cells go from SF-LA using public hydrogen stations

California's hydrogen islands in Los Angeles and San Francisco finally got the bridge they needed to become the "Hydrogen Highway." With the completion of a permanent public station in Coalinga built by FirstElement Fuel, 205 miles north of LA, 183 miles south of SF, fuel-cell-vehicle owners can complete the road trip without worry. Mercedes-Benz did just that with five B-Class F-Cell customers, spending three days covering 1,000 miles and filling up only at public permanent stations in Burbank, Coalinga, West Sacramento, and Emeryville. Mercedes says there are ten stations in California now, but more than 40 are scheduled to open in 2016, and about ten more every year after that through 2023, when there should be 123 open stations. The company's US fuel-cell fleet is 70 strong and has covered more than two million miles in the five years they've been on the roads here. On average that means each car has driven just 5,714 miles per year, but that number should go up now that they can stretch their hydrogen stacks. The press release below has more information. Nearly 1,000 fuel cell electric miles: Crossing California on Hydrogen - Five Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL complete emission-free drive from Los Angeles to Northern California while only filling up at public hydrogen stations - "California Hydrogen Highway" is connecting the dots - U.S. F-CELL customers have accumulated over 2 million miles since 2010 Stuttgart, Oct 27, 2015 - Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL customers ventured beyond Southern California last week for the very first time, while only filling up at existing public hydrogen stations along the route from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The opening of a new hydrogen station in Coalinga along the I-5 corridor made this opportunity possible. A team driving five B-Class F-CELL refilled at four permanent hydrogen fueling stations located in Burbank, Coalinga, West Sacramento and Emeryville, accumulating nearly 1,000 miles over the course of their three day trip. Three F-CELL customers were accompanied by a team from Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America based in Long Beach. The purpose of this unique road trip was to highlight the growing hydrogen station network and to show that the vision of the California Hydrogen Highway is becoming reality. Early adopter Loki Efaw who has been an F-CELL driver since 2011 believes fuel cells are the future: "I don't want a car that only takes me to work and back before I have to plug it in.