For five days in September, Blenheim Palace will become a particularly improbable backdrop for the future of the automobile. The lawns and formal gardens of one of England’s grandest country houses will host machines designed not for the school run, the commute or even particularly sensible journeys, but for speed, rarity and spectacle.
Salon Privé 2026 returns to Oxfordshire next week with what organisers describe as the largest collection of supercar and hypercar debuts in the event’s 21-year history. Among them will be cars being shown in Britain for the first time. And it is a line-up that says something about the peculiar state of the modern collector car.
The internal-combustion engine may be facing its most profound transformation in generations, but at the top end of the market there remains an extraordinary appetite for cars that are faster, rarer and more elaborate than anything that came before.
Lamborghini’s latest V12 arrives in Oxfordshire
Taking centre stage in the Automotive Gallery will be the Lamborghini Revuelto SV, making its UK debut at Blenheim Palace shortly after its global unveiling at The Quail in California.
The SV name carries considerable weight at Lamborghini. Meaning Super Veloce, or “Super Fast”, it can be traced back to the Miura SV of 1971 and has subsequently appeared on some of the marque’s most extreme V12s, including the Diablo SV, Murciélago LP 670-4 Super Veloce and Aventador SV.
The Revuelto SV continues that lineage — with numbers that would have seemed absurd even by Lamborghini’s standards a generation ago. Its V12 hybrid powertrain produces 1,065 CV and 1,425 Nm of system torque, sending the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and to 200 km/h in 6.7 seconds. Top speed is in excess of 345 km/h.
Lamborghini describes it as the most powerful and fastest production car it has ever built at Sant’Agata Bolognese. Only 1,963 examples will be produced, a reference to the year Automobili Lamborghini was founded, with the car reserved for the marque’s most loyal customers and collectors.
For Salon Privé visitors, though, the attraction is rather simpler: this will be the first opportunity to see the Revuelto SV in the UK. It will be joined at Blenheim by Lamborghini’s Urus SE Performante, making its own debut at the palace.
BRABUS brings two very different monsters
If Lamborghini’s approach is to push its established V12 formula further, BRABUS has opted for something more eccentric. The German coachbuilder will unveil the BRABUS BODO, a 2+2 Gran Turismo standing just 130 centimetres tall and limited to 77 examples.
The car is named in tribute to BRABUS founder Bodo Buschmann and draws on the proportions and character of the grand coupes of the automobile’s so-called golden age.
Under its carbon-fibre body is a hand-built 5.2-litre V12 biturbo engine. The result is a 0-to-100 km/h time of three seconds and a claimed top speed of 223 mph. It is an unapologetically old-fashioned idea executed with modern engineering: a large engine, a low roof and very little interest in restraint.
BRABUS will also use Salon Privé for the UK debut of the 800 Cabrio, based on the latest Mercedes-AMG G 63.
The transformation from familiar boxy off-roader to open-top luxury machine required more than 500 newly developed components, including a complex soft-top system. There is an 800hp 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 beneath the bonnet, while production is limited to 50 cars worldwide.
The two BRABUS cars could hardly be more different in appearance, but they share the same philosophy: if something can be made more extravagant, it probably should be.
Meet Giamaro’s Krafla
Among the more intriguing names making its UK debut at Blenheim will be Giamaro Automobili, an emerging Italian marque presenting the Krafla in its GC livery.
The company describes the car as an expression of extreme engineering, Italian craftsmanship and driver-focused design.
The GC specification combines Azzurro Giamaro, Bianco Infinito and Grigio Cenere with exposed carbon-fibre elements, giving the car a finish intended to emphasise its aerodynamic forms.
Inside, the emphasis shifts from visual drama to the driver. The cockpit has been designed around ergonomics, materials and technology, with Giamaro presenting the Krafla as a hypercar in which the person behind the wheel remains central to the experience.
For a relatively new manufacturer, Salon Privé offers an audience that few other events could provide: collectors, enthusiasts and buyers accustomed to seeing the newest and rarest cars before they reach the wider public.
The headline cars are only part of the story.
Electrogenic and Theon Design will also stage debuts and unveilings, while Petroyle and Talos will make their first large public displays.
The Automotive Gallery will additionally feature Bristol Motors, Delage Automobiles, Koenigsegg and Elektron Motors.
The resulting collection reflects a changing automotive landscape.
The traditional supercar manufacturer now shares the stage with electric specialists, restomod companies, independent coachbuilders and start-up hypercar marques.
Some are preserving old ideas; others are attempting to reinvent them. All are competing for the attention of a clientele increasingly interested in rarity and individuality as much as outright performance.
Salon Privé has become a particularly effective stage for that competition because the cars are not presented in isolation.
They are displayed in the gardens of Blenheim Palace, among concours cars, fashion, hospitality and the rituals of a traditional English social occasion.
Five days of automotive theatre
The spectacle returns to Blenheim
Salon Privé runs from 02 to 06 September, beginning with the Salon Privé Concours by Aviva Private Clients and continuing through Ladies’ Day by Boodles, Supercar Saturday and Club Trophy Day presented by Lockton, before concluding with Supercar Sunday and Lifestyle Club Day.
But the cars are the reason to pay attention this year.
Salon Privé’s 20th anniversary in 2025 set a high bar for an event already accustomed to excess. This year’s answer is not subtle: more debuts, more hypercars and a collection of machines that exist at the outer limits of what a road-going automobile can be.
For Oxfordshire, it means that one of the county’s most familiar landmarks is about to become an unlikely meeting point for some of the most exclusive cars in the world.
The Revuelto SV will arrive carrying more than 1,000 horsepower. BRABUS will bring a V12 coupe and an open-air G-Class. Giamaro will introduce a new Italian hypercar.
And for a few days, the roads around Blenheim will lead not merely to a palace, but to another kind of fantasy — one measured in horsepower, carbon fibre and the increasingly rare sound of a V12.
