Launch of the “Symphony of Engines”: press conference for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2019.

Munich/Milan. A feast for the eyes and ears will
enchant fans of Historic Cars and Motorcycles at the Concorso
d’Eleganza Villa d’Este from 24th to 26th May 2019. This prestigious
event is being held on the banks of Lake Como in Cernobbio, Northern
Italy. The traditional press conference was held by the organisers on
Wednesday 15th May to set the scene for the exclusive parade of
beauties on two and four wheels. At Milan’s La Scala, BMW Group
Classic, the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este and BMW Group Italia provided
international media representatives with information about the
programme schedule, the entire field of participants, and details and
innovations that will once again make the world’s most exclusive
beauty contest for classic vehicles with a heritage tradition an
unforgettable event on the shoreline of Lake Como in 2019.

At the press conference held in Milan’s La Scala, Ulrich Knieps,
President of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este and Head of BMW
Group Classic, joined with Danilo Zucchetti, Managing Director of
Villa d’Este Hotels, and Sergio Solero, President of BMW Group Italia,
to outline further details of the programme schedule. For the first
time, they also presented all the vehicles nominated for the beauty
contest in advance of the event. The list of nominated vehicles is
available with immediate effect on the website of the Concorso
D´Eleganza Villa D´Este
.

This year, the festival of elegance organised jointly by BMW Group
Classic and the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este is being held under the motto
“The Symphony of Engines – 90 Years of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa
d’Este and BMW Automobiles”. In 1929, the beauty contest for
automobiles celebrated its premiere in the grounds of the Grand Hotel
Villa d’Este. At that time, the event had been created as a
competition for particularly exclusive new vehicles.

However, this was not the only premiere in that year. Meanwhile, the
company BMW had already achieved initial successes as a manufacturer
of aero-engines and motorcycles, and 90 years ago it started producing
its first series automobile, the BMW 3/15 3/15 PS DA2. This
anniversary provides the inspiration for this year’s BMW Group Classic
exhibition at the “Padiglione Centrale” in the parkland of Villa Erba.
A town setting from the 1920s forms the backdrop for presenting the
historic automobiles and motorcycles that made the BMW Group mobile at
that time. Yet another reason to celebrate is that the current event
will mark an additional anniversary. For the past 20 years, the BMW
Group has been committed to holding this beauty pageant for friends of
classic vehicles. Initially, the BMW Group was the main sponsor but
since 2005 it has staged the Concorso as joint organiser together with
the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este. The contest has meanwhile become an
absolute highlight for classic fans across the world.

Once again in the anniversary year 2019, the contest for Historic
Cars will comprise eight award classes. And a field of some 50
nominated vehicles will again reflect the entire fascinating bandwidth
of automobile history. The Concorso di Motociclette is being held for
the ninth time and has now become a fixed element of the event. The
Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2019 will culminate with the award of
the “Best of Show” among the Historic Cars on the Sunday.

This year, for the first time, participants in the contest will
gather to celebrate the launch of the weekend for classic vehicles to
go on an outing together. On Thursday 23rd May 2019, the Villa d’Este
Prelude Tour will take the automobiles that have been nominated for
the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on a trip through the picturesque
landscape surrounding Cernobbio and the region around Lake Como. The
Villa d’Este Prelude Tour will be presented by the new partner
Pirelli. This year, the famous tyre manufacturer will also be
represented as an exhibitor at the Villa Erba for the first time.

The Trofeo BMW Group is traditionally conferred in the final podium
ceremony for the winner of “Best of Show” and it celebrated another
premiere at the press conference.

In 1929, the winners of the eight award classes for Historic Cars and
the winners of several special awards will be presented with trophies
that have been completely redesigned. They are being produced in a
supremely sophisticated, additive manufacturing process in a
first-time experience. Know-how from different departments in the BMW
Group has been bundled for the development and production of the new
trophies. The design process was in the hands of specialists at
Designworks, a subsidiary company of the BMW Group. The manufacture of
the trophies was also carried out within the company at the Additive
Manufacturing Centre of the BMW Group.

The “Lange 1 Time Zone Como Edition” crafted by the Official Watch
Partner, A. Lange  Söhne, was also presented in Milan. The watch
created exclusively for the winner of the “Best of Show” is a
masterpiece made up of 417 individual parts and it was handcrafted
over a period of nine months.

During the course of his speech in Milan, Ulrich Knieps thanked the
partners referred to above, and also extended his thanks to champagne
producer Vranken Pommery for their ten years of partnership. He also
announced a new partnership with Italian fashion label Larusmiani. The
family-run company from Milan will provide outfits for the models
during the parade alongside additional support.