The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is a great place to see a flawlessly restored 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II, but the event also features plenty of the latest cars too.
Attendees en route to the classic car show's awards ceremony on Sunday were funnelled past a stable of concept cars from many manufacturers at the prestigious golf course near Monterey in California. The 60th red Ferrari in a single day can seem a bit ho-hum as it rolls past, but there's still plenty to catch a car enthusiast's eye among the concept cars. The models range from thought experiments to forthcoming products.
Infiniti Essence
The Essence is one of those show cars that's rolled out by manufacturers every now and then to establish, in the public's eye, that company's style for the next few years — the recently revealed Infiniti M (a BMW 5-Series sized car) cribs many of Essence's cues, for instance. The Essence's hybrid powertrain consists of a turbocharged 3.6-litre V6 and an electric motor that together deliver about 440kW of power to the rear wheels. Underlining the car's opulence, it features custom-fitted Louis Vuitton luggage.