Bugatti, Koenigsegg and Pagani headline the Zoute Gallery in Knokke
The Zoute Grand Prix Gallery has a simple, clever premise this year: show the cars that will be fought over at auction in a few years, while they are still brand new.
From 7 to 11 October, the Zoute Grand Prix Car Week returns to Knokke-Heist, and its centrepiece, the Gallery by EY in a purpose-built beach pavilion on Albertplein, will bring together 23 prestigious brands. The theme this year is the collector cars of tomorrow: rare, hand-finished, deeply personalised machines that could reappear in Knokke in a few years, no longer as new-car debuts but as coveted lots at the auctions or the Concours d'Élégance.
Small series, big names
The headline draw is a cluster of ultra-exclusive, small-series builders rarely seen together. Apollo, Bugatti, Gunther Werks, Koenigsegg, Pagani, RUF and Bovensiepen will all be there. Pagani and Koenigsegg are the reference points for hand-built hypercars, while Apollo and Bugatti keep pushing performance, materials and design to limits reserved for a tiny audience. Gunther Werks brings its modern reinterpretation of classic Porsche design from California, and RUF continues to build its own sports cars on Porsche 911 architecture under its own name.
For Belgian visitors, the Bovensiepen stand may be the most intriguing. Andreas and Florian Bovensiepen carry on their family's automotive heritage under their own name now that the ALPINA era has ended, and they will show the Bovensiepen Zagato and the 05 GT at Knokke.
It does not have to be a tiny workshop
McLaren makes the point that a future classic can also come from a bigger name. It brings the new 788HS to Knokke, limited to 200 cars worldwide and split evenly between Coupé and Spider, each open to extensive personalisation through McLaren Special Operations.
Exclusivity goes electric
The Gallery is not only about combustion. Rimac, whose entire identity is the all-electric hypercar, returns, and Denza brings a tech-forward mix of electric and electrified luxury, design and digital innovation. It is a reminder that the collectibles of the future will not all sound the way the ones in the auction tent do.
The real luxury is in the detail
Exclusivity is not only about extreme performance. Two years ago Rolls-Royce surprised Knokke with the Spectre, its first fully electric coupé; this year it returns with the Series II. The greater luxury, though, is what never appears on a spec sheet. Through its Bespoke programme, Rolls-Royce can match a paint colour to the sea in your favourite holiday photo, or to a personal object, and tailor the materials, embroidery and wood until a car is effectively one of one.
A Belgian stage for premieres
Alongside the ultra-exclusive names, the Gallery will also feature Alpine, Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Polestar, Porsche and Range Rover with their latest models, and several brands will use the week to stage Belgian, Benelux or European premieres. It all sits within the wider Zoute Grand Prix Car Week, where some of the world's most coveted historic cars are shown, judged at the Concours d'Élégance and sold at the auctions.
AutoNext Take
The “collector cars of tomorrow” framing is smart because it is true. Rarity, craftsmanship, a good story, a technical first or an extreme level of personalisation are exactly the ingredients that make a modern car appreciate rather than depreciate, and Knokke gathers all of them in one beach pavilion. Seeing a Pagani, a Rimac and a Bespoke Rolls-Royce in the same room is the whole point: these are the cars future auction catalogues are being written around right now.
It is also a reminder of the Zoute Grand Prix's pull. Convincing Apollo, Koenigsegg, Bovensiepen and 20 others to bring their rarest metal to a Belgian seaside town for five days is no small thing, and the premieres promised for the week suggest the brands take it just as seriously.
