Top Marques Monaco opens with 235 cars

Monaco’s luxury car show opened on May 7 with a very clear message — this is no longer just a boutique supercar salon. Top Marques Monaco says this year’s 21st edition is its biggest yet, with more than 235 vehicles, 16 premieres, and a broader push into tuners, watches, boats, and collector-grade one-offs. The stakes are simple: if you want to see where the ultra-rich end of the car market is pointing next, this is one of the places that now tries to set the tone, not just reflect it. The big visual hook this year is the Giamaro Krafla, but the more interesting story is how the whole event is changing. ### What opened in Monaco today? Top Marques Monaco opened at the Grimaldi Forum on Thursday, May 7, running through May 10, with an opening-night preview having taken place on May 6. Organizers framed the 2026 edition as the largest in the show’s history, built around 16 vehicle premieres and more than 235 machines spread across supercars, classics, motorcycles, luxury watches, and marine tech. ### Why does the 235-car number matter? Because it shows the event is scaling from a niche Monaco showcase into something closer to a full-spectrum luxury mobility fair. The official program says the display stretches across 11,500 square meters, and that matters because Top Marques has historically been more intimate and more selective. More adjacent luxury categories mean more brands now see it as a useful place to launch expensive, low-volume products. ### What is the headline car? It’s the Giamaro Krafla — the first car from Italian brand Giamaro Automobili. This is not a mild debut. Giamaro says the car uses a quad-turbo V12 making 1,670 PS in standard form, with a more extreme setup climbing to 2,157 PS. That number is the kind of thing designers at the very top of the hypercar pyramid. ### Is the Krafla a world premiere? Not exactly in the cleanest sense. Top Marques materials talk broadly about 16 premieres at the show, while Giamaro’s own messaging centers on the Krafla’s European premiere in a new GC livery. So the safe read is that the Krafla is one of the event’s star debuts, but not necessarily a never-before-seen global unveiling. Even the word “premiere” can mean world, regional, or spec-level first showing. ### What else changed this year? The biggest format change is the new Luxury Tuners Hall — a 1,500 m² space dedicated to bespoke customization and high-end modification. Basically, Top Marques is leaning harder into the part of the market where buyers do not just want a rare car; they want their rare car to be visibly unlike anyone else, and gives the public a bigger role in spotlighting standout cars. ### Why lean into tuners and one-offs now? Because the ultra-luxury market has moved beyond simple badge prestige. For the highest-end buyers, exclusivity now often means coachbuilt commissions, altered bodywork, custom interiors, and tiny production runs. A tuner hall in Monaco is basically an acknowledgment that also helps Top Marques differentiate itself from broader auto shows that are still centered on mass-market launches. ### Does this say anything bigger about car shows? Yes — the surviving car shows are the ones that specialize. Mass-market auto expos have struggled, but events aimed at collectors and luxury buyers still work because they are less about consumer comparison shopping and more about access, spectacle than floor space. ### Bottom line? Top Marques Monaco opened with a lot of cars, but the real signal is strategic. This show is getting bigger, more launch-focused, and more customized — and the Krafla fits that shift perfectly. In other words, Monaco is not just displaying hypercars this week. It is displaying the business model around them.