The Alfa Brera picked up the prestigious "Most Beautiful Car in the World" award during a glittering ceremony at the 21st annual International Automobile Festival held in the Grand Palais in Paris, a site with legendary significance in France’s cultural heritage and also in the history of the automobile.

The Alfa Brera fended off competition from the other three contenders on the final shortlist: the Peugeot 407 Coupé, Chrysler 300 C Touring and Lexus IS 250, to pick up the prestigious award for aesthetic beauty, to add to the long list of major design awards the Brera has won since being first presented as a concept in 2002. These numerous important international award include: the ‘Best of Show’, awarded by the magazine Autoweek at the Geneva Motor Show, ‘Best of Show’ in the Prototype category at the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elégance, two prizes for its category at the Bibendum Challenge 2002, one as ‘one of the most elegant in the world’; and also the title of ‘the most fascinating car’ during the Super Car Rally 2002, which runs from Paris to Monte Carlo.

The "Most Beautiful Car in the World" award was handed out during a glamorous ceremony at the Grand Palais that brought together leading figures from the arenas of big business, sport and entertainment, and included former French four times Formula One World Champion Alain Prost, and current Renault Grand Prix team boss Flavio Briatore. Other awards went to the Citroen C6 for best interior, the Bugatti EB 16.4 for 'Supercar of the Year', while the Mazda Sendu won 'Concept Car of the Year'. Master Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who created the Alfa Brera, received the Grand Prize for Art during the ceremonies.

This year, the closing ceremonies of the Festival took place at the Grand Palais, after fifteen years in Chamonix, and five years at the Ritz Hotel on Place Vendôme in Paris. The new venue was an important choice, intended to emphasise the aims of the event. Organisational challenges on this scale make it an economic, technical and human feat, including a cocktail reception, a dinner and an awards ceremony for more than 600 people. The event involved decorating and occupying a 139,930-square-foot space, with several hundred projectors to light the interior and the stage, a giant video screen, 53,819 square feet of carpeting and the installation of heating specifically designed for such areas with ceilings 190 feet high.
 

Architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte was the President of the Jury with Alain Prost as Honorary President, and fashion designer Chantal Thomass as Vice-President. The jury members were made up of Pierre Arditi (Actor), Hubert Auriol (Professional Pilot and Event Organiser), Michel Cacouault (Company President), Jean-Claude Dassi (Managing Director of LCI), Paul Dupuy (Director of Publication for Automobiles Classiques), Franz-Olivier Giesbert (Manager of Le Point magazine), Phillipe Guardjian (Formula One Executive Consultant, President of the Paul Ricard Circuit), Laurent-Eric Le Lay (General Director of Eurosport, Director of the Sports Activations Group TF1), Michel Leeb (Actor), François Morinière (President of Viacom Outdoor France), Hervé Poulain (President of the National Counsel of the Art Market) and Georges Wolinksi (Cartoonist). The voting process also included the viewers of Eurosport, a satellite TV channel which covers 54 countries, and whose viewers over the last two months have been able to vote for their preferred choice amongst the final four contenders.

The evening also provided an opportunity for the organisers to announce and officially launch a bold, ambitious project for 2007: to an annual exhibition dedicated to automobile design, creation and beauty.