Coachbuilt

The voluptuous new Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale rings in a new era while paying respects to the past, carrying a gas-electric powertrain split inside bodywork inspired by the legendary 1967 33 Stradale. It seems a shoe-in for "prettiest car of 2023."

Rolls-Royce's Boat Tail was a standout of the 2021 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. The $28 million masterpiece even became the world's most expensive new car. Rolls has followed up with Boat Tail II, a whisky-tinged cigar of a car inspired by pearls.

Not willing to wait for the Tesla Roadster, one car enthusiast demanded a Tesla convertible, immediately. Ares Design was more than happy to take on the challenge. Slicing the roof and rear doors off, it turned sedan into Model S convertible.

The Corvette is certainly a handsome car, but it's not quite on the level of a coachbuilt sports car from a world-famous Italian design house. The new Iso Rivolta GTZ shows plainly that Zagato can dress the Corvette up in a more stylish skin.

Take a Rolls-Royce-like sedan, drop it on a pickup chassis, add in a VIP rear passenger area with limousine-like luxury, and pretend your clients are going to actually off-road the thing. You end up with ... something of a mess: the Aznom Palladium.

"Weight is the enemy, air resistance the obstacle." Not novel ideas for fast vehicles, but the all-new Aero 3 from Touring Superleggera was developed with a brief featuring that simple phrase bolded at the top. And it very much shows.

Bentley dips its toes back in the coachbuilding waters, tasking its Mulliner division with building custom vehicle bodies. The new Bacalar is the first fruit of Mulliner's labor, a roofless barchetta with concept-inspired looks and W12 power.

Peter Mullin made his fortune in insurance, but has spent much of it building an absolutely stunning collection of cars from his favourite era: the Art Deco period of the 1920s and 30s, when French coachbuilders were making some of the prettiest cars in automotive history. Enjoy a tour in photos.

Late last year, UK firm Qwest Norfolk completed a stylish rework of the back end of a Tesla Model S P90D to transform the electric car into a shooting brake. Now Dutch firm RemetzCar has also attacked the rear of a Model S for the first of 20 electric shooting brakes.

Bored with the same old Wranglers and G-Classes but not so sure you want to go all-out Rezvani Tank? New bespoke shop Ares Design offers a different option, completing making over the Mercedes-AMG G63 into the sportier, more modern X-Raid with all that Graz-built ruggedness below.

Ken Okuyama is currently one of the most exciting names in vehicle design, with a resume to make most vehicle designers green with envy. Having unveiled the Kode57 during Monterey Car Week last year, the talented designer has whipped the covers off a dramatic new creation – the Kode 0.

Rolls-Royce will be wheeling out past Phantoms from famous owners in Mayfair to celebrate the launch of the Phantom VIII. The company has revealed the exhibition will include a Phantom owned by WWII Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery.