Luxury automakers from Bugatti to Pagani to debut new cars at Pebble Beach

Thousands of classic car fans are rolling onto California’s Monterey Peninsula for what has become one of the year’s most eagerly awaited automotive events.

Centered around Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, it’s a week-long series of car shows, auctions, parties and other events featuring some of the world’s rarest and most expensive collector cars.

But what has become known as Pebble Beach car week has also become a major event for new car fans, as well. More than a dozen different luxury brands, including Acura, BMW, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz and Pininfarina, will be on hand to show off their latest concept and production models, many of them making their world debuts.

Here’s an A-to-Z look at some of the more significant introductions that already have been confirmed for Pebble Beach Car Week.

Acura, the luxury arm of Honda, will offer the public debut of the Type S Concept at the Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, on Friday. The Type S badge has been used on a number of limited-run Acuras over the past two decades but will soon become a regular part of the line-up as a challenge to such performance sub-brands as BMW M and Mercedes-AMG. The Type S Concept is based on the next-generation Acura TLX sedan that will come to market next year.

BMW is a frequent participant in the Pebble Beach Car Week events and will have a number of different models to show off this year. That includes the North American debut of the Garmisch Concept that won wild acclaim during a debut at the concourse in Villa d’Este, Italy earlier this year.

Also on hand: the Vision M Next Concept which blends a variety of different technologies that could reshape BMW’s future product line-up, including battery power and autonomous driving capabilities. The automaker is keeping some secrets, however, hinting that a production version of an older concept – possibly a high-performance 8-Series Gran Coupe – will also debut in Pebble Beach.

Bugatti will bring the most expensive new car ever sold, the $18.7 million La Voiture Noire, to Pebble Beach. But the ultra-premium arm of the Volkswagen Group has been building suspense by teasing plans to “unveil the next great project for La Marque” at the Friday gathering at the Quail Lodge.

What’s in store? Speculation has been rampant, covering everything from a new one-off of Bugatti’s only current nameplate, the Chiron, to something entirely new. During an interview with Automobile magazine this month, the brand’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann confirmed Bugatti has been working on an ultra-exotic utility vehicle that could top 200 mph and cost as much as $1 million.

De Tomaso is a name that delights serious classic car collectors but has been all but forgotten by most luxury buyers. The revived brand is bringing its new P72 supercar to the Monterey Peninsula — along with the only existing version of the old P70 race car developed by namesake Alejandro de Tomaso and the late Carroll Shelby in 1965.

Infiniti comes to Pebble Beach celebrating its 30th anniversary with an array of Edition 30 models. These are specially trimmed-out versions of its most popular product lines, the Q50, Q60, QX50, QX60 and QX80. It also will bring several of its earliest models to the second-annual Japanese Automotive Invitational, one of the many ancillary events that take place during the extended classic car weekend.

Karma, currently sells the Revero, an updated version of the plug-in hybrid from the old Fisker Automotive it purchased out of bankruptcy.

The now Chinese-owned battery-car brand has promised to expand its single-car line-up over the next few years and will give a hint of what’s coming at the Pebble Beach Concours in the form of both the GT and the SC1 concepts. Designed by Italy’s Pininfarina, the latter, all-electric model “is a signpost to Karma’s future,” according to Karma CEO Lance Zhou.

Lotus was all but written off for dead a few years ago when its grand expansion plans collapsed. Sold to Geely, the Chinese company that also owns Volvo, it is making a grand entrance at Pebble Beach with the first of what it promises will be an assortment of new sports cars.

The Lotus Evija is an electric hypercar making 1,972 horsepower. That should be good for around 200 mph or, if you prefer, 250 miles per charge. Evija is expected to cost about $2 million.

McLaren will bring to Pebble Beach both the new GT supercar set to go on sale for $210,000 late this year, as well as the McLaren GT by MSO, a heavily customized version of the 612-horsepower grand tourer.

Like several other exotics, the British marque is betting its affluent buyers are willing to reach even deeper into their pockets for bespoke one-offs that will pair unique design features — including custom colors — with performance.

Pininfarina is a name that will show up seemingly everywhere during Pebble Beach Car Week. The legendary Italian design house styled a number of classics at shows like the Concours d’Elegance, as well as new models like the Karma SC1 concept.

It’s also bringing its own battery hypercar, the Battista, which made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show last March. This updated version now can deliver as much as 300 miles per charge, as well as a top speed of 217 mph and a 0-60 sprint of less than 2 seconds. The price tag? About $2.3 million.

Pagani, the Italian-Argentine supercar company will use Pebble Beach as the stage to debut its own, all-new hypercar, the Huayra Roadster BC. Dubbed a “tribute to scientific research, beauty, and uniqueness,” by the automaker, it is powered by a 750-horsepower Mercedes-AMG V-12. For those who can’t wait for the official intro, Pagani loaded a digital version of the Roadster into the CSR Racing 2 videogame. That will be a lot less expensive way to drive the hypercar, of which only 40 will be made – each carrying a $3.4 million price tag.

This is only a partial list of all the brands that will be on hand during the various events over the long week, in one form or another. Indeed, it will be the rare luxury marque that won’t host a reception or place one of its concept vehicles on the lawn at the Lodge at Pebble Beach.

Collectors, meanwhile, will have an assortment of auctions to attend where some rare and unusual models will go across the block. Last year generated sales of nearly $120 million, according to McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty Insurance, which specializes in classic cars.

Disclosure: Paul Eisenstein is a freelancer for CNBC. His travel and accommodations to Pebble Beach were paid for by Bentley.