CDN’s highlights from Rétromobile 2025: rare concepts, modern classics and auto merch heaven
Guy Bird was in Paris for Retromobile 2025 earlier this month and found an impressive mix of cars, clothes and auto-related curiosities
Milling around the myriad stalls that make up the Rétromobile show in Paris last week is one of the most fun things I’ve done in the name of work for a while.
The 49th edition of the annual event, held in the same venue as the Paris Motor Show in the south of the city from February 5-9th, was a cracking event. While classic car-focussed, it also premiered some new metal – including the experimental Renault Filante Record concept car – plus loads of automotive-related memorabilia to buy, including vintage garage signage, spare parts, repair catalogues, sculpture, art, watches, clothing, books and more.
But aside from this admirable width – something Rétromobile manages indoors in the same way as the Goodwood Festival of Speed does outdoors – is the egalitarian vibe of the show itself.
Whether you’ve come to seriously bid on – or simply admire – a multi-million-dollar McLaren F1 or Ferrari SP2, or snare a hard-to-find €2 Matra sew-on badge within a floor box piled to the brim, Rétromobile appears to have you covered. The price of entry is not prohibitive – €20 for adults, €12 for teenagers and kids under 12 free – and more crucially, almost all stands allow good access to the sort of rarities normally situated well behind an ultra-high-net worth VIP rope.
Showgoers of all stripes, persuasions and wallet size seem to rub shoulders happily under one roof, bound by the love of all things automotive. So from our in-depth aisle and boots-on-the-ground research and photography, here is Car Design News’ Time Warp Top Ten cars – listed from newest to oldest – followed by our round-up of the show’s best automotive memorabilia in CDN’s Auto Merch Dirty Dozen.
1. 2025 Renault Filante Record
Working back from the present day, Renault’s ‘Originals’ stand probably had the newest car on display at Rétromobile. But in keeping with the show’s vintage vibe, the low-slung, long and lightweight Filante Record electric concept car took significant inspiration from three historic Renaults: the 1925 40 CV – on display alongside the 2025 concept – plus the 1936 Nerva Sport and 1956 Filante Etoile. (Look out for CDN’s separate design interview story on the sub-1000kg concept and its real-world experimental mission soon.)
2. 2024 Kimera EVO38
Unashamedly pitched as the spiritual heir to the stunning legacy of the amazing Lancia racing cars of the late 70s to the early 90s, the Kimera EVO38 is a mechanical and analogue delight – and appropriately for its name, limited to just 38 examples.
3. 2020 Ferrari Monza SP2
Rare supercars seemed somewhat counter-intuitively plentiful at Rétromobile. This low-mileage 2020 Ferrari Monza SP2 was one of a small handful we saw at the show and cuts a very elegant dash up close.
4. 2009 Mazda MX-5 Superlight concept
Mazda celebrated 35 (and a bit) years of its now iconic 1989 MX-5 roadster model at the Paris expo with an official stand sporting some of the more unusual versions of the car, including this still very cool-looking 2009 Mazda MX-5 Superlight concept.
5. 1990s McLaren F1
Considered by many as the greatest car of the 20th century, this speed record-breaking, butterfly-doored, two-door, three-seater with unusual central driving position, still drops jaws up close. Thank engineer Gordon Murray and designer Peter Stevens for that, plus its rarity: only 106 McLaren F1s were built between 1992-2000, and prices are now stratospheric – one 2024 private sale reportedly topped US$20,000,000. Who says design doesn’t have value?
6. 1980s Matra Murena JPB
You can’t really have a French car show without a smattering of Matras on display and Rétromobile 2025 got the memo, including this electric blue Murena JPB, so-called because of its enhanced body kit and engine in collaboration with racing driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Early 1980s niceness right there and designed to be less rust-prone than the also very cool Bagheera model it replaced.
7. 1970s BMW 3.0 CSL
Wilhelm Hofmeister – the man who put the ‘kink’ in BMW from the early 60s – oversaw the design of the iconic ‘E9’ range of vehicles launched in 1968. Two years after he retired as design chief at the Bavarian brand in 1970, the 1972 3.0 CSL became perhaps the finest example of the breed, whether elegant and simple in the flat orange version pictured, or indeed as the wilder and be-spoilered 1973 aero package edition. Either way, both feature the two-stage, short rearward, then longer forward rear-pillar line ‘kink’ that frames the side window and is famously named after Herr Hofmeister.
8. 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB / 4*S NART Spider
One of the most beautiful and beautifully rare Ferraris of all time. Only ten originals were made and it’s hard to find fault with a single line or surface on its incredibly smooth and well-resolved bodywork.
9. 1959 Citroën DS 19
One of the most globally significant cars of the 20th century celebrated its 70th birthday at Rétromobile 2025 with a 12-strong display of DS cars. At its centre was a faithful physical reconstruction of the famous image of a Citroën DS 19 body resting on four balloons – first created in 1959 four years after the model’s birth – to visually express how floatingly comfortable the car’s revolutionary hydropneumatic suspension was. Since 2014 a standalone brand, DS Automobiles also showed its latest No.8 production car, which although far from matching the original’s exterior for elegance, nonetheless has a very modern-looking and feeling cabin.
10. 1925 Renault 40 CV
Remember the 2025 Filante Record concept at the top of this list? Well here’s the 1925 Renault 40 CV ‘break to the beat’, or the ‘automotive sample’ if you prefer. Long nose, cab-rearward, exposed side pipes, record-breaking history, tick, tickety tick, tick, tick.
And in tribute to the glorious other attractions at Rétromobile, from clothes to signs and everything inbetween, here’s CDN’s Auto Merch Dirty Dozen.
1. Stylish scale-model ALCA sculptures
Courtesy of Alain Cassaigne in Bazaiges, these ALCA scale models were some of the best resolved we saw at Rétromobile
2. Full-scale ‘Hasselback potato-style’ artworks
Antoine Dufilho’s Rétromobile stand offered both limited-edition full-size and smaller slice-n-dice style car sculptures with a super-high level of execution. The big ones would need a fair-sized front room (and we suspect, deep pockets) though.
3. Car photography with a difference
Bruno des Gayets’ deconstructed 1966 Porsche 906 image with all its constituent parts laid bare photographed against a white background caught our eye among Rétromobile’s numerous car photography stands.
4. Every French car manual you could ever need (plus others)
The clue’s in the headline: Rétromobile seemed to have this particular automotive collecting niche well and truly covered.
5. Miniature car, helmet and car transporter models please…
If you can’t find the miniature car or helmet model you’re after at Rétromobile it’s properly rare. Even if what you’re really after is an Alitalia-liveried, scale-model car transporter for the Lancia Stratos Racing team. Go see the Arena Models stand…
6. So, I also need some string-back racing gloves…
Look no further than Acaba, they have colours galore.
7. …and an old and obscure metal car badge
Potential customer: Do you have a ‘Sizaire Six’ badge by chance?
Stall holder: Yes, I have at least two.
Customer: Thank you, I’ll take one.
8. Or graphically great garage signage
I wonder if any stallholder will have a fully working Ferrari light, Mobil Oil Pegasus sign or a giant Mercedes three-pointed star? Result!
9. Vintage transport posters
Got those too, from bikes to boats as well on this upmarket stall.
10. Classic car magazines…
I really need the November 1970 edition of Europe Auto magazine with the Citroen SM feature. You have it?
11. …and car design books
This seller had many Car Men back issues for €20 each. Rude not to…
12. Or proper 1970s motorsport clothing
Here’s a Jean-Pierre Jarier-embroidered motorsport jacket from his mid-70s F1 Shadow team era with the yellow, orange and red vertical stripes. Yes!
