In the great tradition of the concours d'elegance of old, this weekend's Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este featured several world debuts. These were featured in a special class of the concours for modern concept cars and prototypes. A public referendum on Sunday picked the Aston Martin V12 Zagato as the best of this class. Built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary DB4 GT Zagato, the latest Aston Martin is built for use on both the road and track. In fact the car displayed at Villa d'Este will take part in a race at the Nurburgring this weekend and should be back next month for the 24 Hours at the 'Ring. The car is based on the potent V12 Vantage platform and sports a design created by Zagato in collaboration with Aston's own styling team. Although not yet officially confirmed, a production run of 19 examples of the V12 Zagato is planned.
As promised last week, we have taken a very close look at the Ferrari Superamerica 45, which also made its public debut at Villa d'Este. Unlike the Aston Martin, this car will remain strictly a one-off. Mr Kalikow himself showed us around the car and demonstrated some of its custom features like the rotating roof and the lovely blue carbon-fibre parts. All this and much more can be seen in our 24-shot gallery of the Superamerica 45.
Although not a participant in the event, the BMW 328 Hommage was also launched at Lake Como. This dramatic show car was built to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of BMW's most iconic models. The thoroughly modern machine is very light despite featuring a three-litre six cylinder engine.
At last week's Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Berlin for sustainable vehicles, Porsche demonstrated the Boxster E. Based on a standard Boxster, this experimental vehicle uses two electric motors; one for each axle. The combined output is a very impressive 242 bhp and 540 Nm of torque.

Enjoy the links:

2011 Aston Martin V12 Zagato - Images, Specifications and Information

2011 BMW 328 Hommage - Images, Specifications and Information

2011 Ferrari Superamerica 45 - Images, Specifications and Information

2011 Porsche Boxster E - Images, Specifications and Information