Iconic Bugatti models: a car collector's dream
The main goal for many automotive brands has been, is and will always be to sell more cars in order to achieve production targets, fulfil industrial strategies and satisfy market demand in the best possible way. They constantly try to sell as many mass-produced vehicles as they can, increasing end-of-year figures and incomes. This logic, today, is deeply rooted also within the supercar industry and the case of the super SUV Urus — read ‘the best-selling Lamborghini of all time’ — is a lucid example. More units sold, more money to support the brand. There are exceptions to the rule though and very few brands are able to stay true to their origins and heritage, keeping their high standard reputation, however, when your main product is truly exclusive, well, it helps.
Let’s dive into the complex history of Bugatti, following a 10+1 iconic models’ genealogy.
TYPE 10
The Bugatti Type 10
Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, in 1881. Being a vehicle designer for some time, he initially collaborated with brands such as De Dietrich and Mathis, before joining Deutz in 1907 where the young Bugatti became Head of the Production department. He moved to Molsheim, working on some of his own projects, and in 1908 started to design his very first car: the lightweight Type 10 was agile as well as sufficiently powerful to win early automotive races. Breaking with the tradition of heavy and large displacement-cars, the Type 10 really looked like a sports car from the future. A 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine with 10 hp accelerated the two-seater which, weighing a mere 365 kg, reached a top speed of 80 km/h. In 1909, Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was founded.
TYPE 13
Bugatti Type 13
During World War I, Ettore Bugatti returned to Milan and later moved to Paris, but as soon as hostilities concluded, he returned to his Alsatian factory. Less than four months after the Versailles Treaty formalised the transfer of Alsace from Germany to France, Bugatti was able to obtain a stand at the 15th Paris Motor Show, held in October 1919. He exhibited three cars, all of them closely based on their pre-war equivalent and each fitted with the same overhead camshaft 4-cylinder 1.4-litre engine with four valves per cylinder. The smallest of the three was the Type 13, featuring an in house-made body. It represented the first ever vehicle wearing a Bugatti badge, and scored first place in its first major assignment, the Voiturette’s race at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans — with a 20-minute lead over the second classified. The small, high-performance Type 13 quickly became popular amongst drivers and spectators thanks to its reliability, ease and speed of manoeuvre around the corners, especially on public road races fitted with poor pavements.
TYPE 35
The historic Bugatti Type 35.
The Bugatti Type 35, introduced at the 1924 Grand Prix of Lyon, sported an evolution of the three-valve, 2-litre overhead cam inline-eight engine first seen on the 1922 Type 29/30. It featured an unusual ball bearing system, allowing to rev up to 6,000 rpm and producing 90 hp. Front and rear solid axles with leaf springs, cable-operated drum brakes and alloy wheels were the major, fresh novelties. Later versions were upgraded with bigger engines and superchargers. The charismatic one-seater was phenomenally successful, winning more than a thousand races; Type 35S averaged fourteen race wins per week — with, for example, Bugatti to win the Targa Florio from 1925 to 1929 and the first ever Monaco Grand Prix with William Grover-Williams — actually causing a worldwide sensation. The first Type 35 drove faster than 190 km/h, easily overtaking all its competitors. In the later evolution model, the Type 35B, with a 2.3-liter eight-cylinder and supercharger, the power increased up to 140 hp and the top speed to 215+ km/h.
The historic Bugatti Type 35 in detail.
The most successful racing car of all times: Bugatti Type 35.
TYPE 41 ROYALE
1932 Bugatti
Type 41 Royale
The Bugatti name, next to the circuit palmarès, began developing outstanding road cars, taking advantage of creating top notch bodyworks of its own. Built from 1927 to 1933, the Type 41 — better known as Royale — was and still is one of the most luxurious yet largest cars on Earth. Its chassis shows a conventional semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension arrangement at the front and, at the rear, the forward-facing Bugatti quarter-elliptics were supplemented by a second set facing to the back. The aircraft-ready, inline-eight engine had a displacement of 12.7-litre — with an output ranging from 270 to 300 hp at 1,800 rpm. Differently from a contemporary point of view, the aluminium clutch box was attached to the chassis — not to the engine — and the gearbox was placed on the rear axle to reduce noise and increase comfort. The Royale, at the time, was the most luxurious car ever seen, characterised by unimaginable power as well a luxurious and opulent interior; worth saying, all seven Royales' produced were individually bodied, and the radiator cap was a posed elephant, sculptured by Ettore's brother Rembrandt Bugatti.
TYPE 57S/SC ATLANTIC
The Bugatti type 57 SC Atlantic, presented in the “Sculptures” gallery is situated next to the celebrated “Walking Panther” sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti.
1936 saw the birth of the Type 57S/SC Atlantic, a masterpiece of style and technique: it was the sportier variant of the Type 57 unveiled the year before, which distinguished itself from previous models for its curvaceous forms, decreased external dimensions and overall weight — 950 kg only, nothing compared to the 3,175 kg of the Type 41. The "S" stood for "Surbaissé" — french for lowered — and the "C" for “Compresseur”. To lower the car, the rear axle passed through the rear frame rather than riding under it, and a dry-sump lubrication system was required to fit the engine under the new low hood. Just 43 "Surbaissé" cars and only two supercharged Type 57SCs were originally manufactured, but most 57S owners wanted the additional power afforded by the blower. Therefore, most of the original Type 57S cars returned to Molsheim for the kit’s installation, pushing output from 175 hp to 200 hp. Amongst them, chassis 57453 and 57591 probably are the most famous: the first, also known as La Voiture Noire — ordered by Greek racing driver Nico Embiricos and then mostly driven by Ettore Bugatti’s son Jean, William Grover-Williams and his wife — the latter, was bought in 1988 by American stylist Ralph Lauren and given the Best of Show award both at Pebble Beach in 1990 as well as at Villa d'Este in 2013, along with many other top Elegance prizes.
The death of Jean Bugatti on August 11, 1939, marked a sad yet crucial turning point in the company's fortunes. The fatality occurred while he was testing a Type 57 tank-bodied Le Mans-winning race car on a private road in Duppingheim. World War II and Ettore Bugatti passing away in 1952 signed the factory’s final blow: after a ten years-long decline, the original incarnation of Bugatti sadly ceased operations in 1963 — after being acquired by the Spanish-based brand Hispano-Suiza. A few revival attempts followed, but none of them ended successfully.
EB 110
Bugatti EB110
After years of oblivion, in 1987, Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli took over the Bugatti brand and established Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. in Campogalliano, Modena. By 1989, the plans for the new model were presented by Marcello Gandini and Paolo Stanzani, who were previously in charge of the Lamborghini Miura and Countach projects. The Bugatti EB 110 was fitted with a 3.5-litre, 5-valve per cylinder, quad-turbocharged V12 engine, a six-speed gearbox and four-wheel drive. Stanzani proposed an aluminium honeycomb chassis, which was used for all early prototypes; he and President Artioli clashed over engineering decisions so Stanzani left the project and Artioli sought Nicola Materazzi — already known as the F40’s father — to substitute him in 1990. He replaced the aluminium chassis with a carbon fibre model, manufactured by Aerospatiale and altered the torque distribution. The EB 110, capable of 560 hp, reached a top speed of 340+ km/h and a staggering 3.6 seconds on the 0 to 100 km/h acceleration. It was unveiled on September 15, 1991, at both Versailles and in front of the Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris, exactly 110 years after Ettore Bugatti's birth. The SS — SuperSport — version with 612 hp appeared in 1992, and the company also introduced a large saloon prototype called EB112 one year later. By the time the EB 110 came to market, North America and Europe were in recession: poor economic conditions forced the brand to fail and operations ceased, once again, in 1995, with a total 139 EB 110s produced.
VEYRON
Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse
In May 1998, Volkswagen AG bought rights to use the Bugatti logo and incorporated Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. in its portfolio. To succeed the EB 110 the German manufacturer quickly released a series of concepts, the technological advancements of which would have culminated in the Veyron 16.4. This hyper car, presented in several motor shows around the globe in 2000, boasted an 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine with a power output of 1,001 hp. The average top speed officially recorded, on the original version, was 408+ km/h; owners, to attempt reading that velocity on their speedometer, must toggle a special key to the left of their seat, triggering a checklist to establish whether the car and its driver were ready for take-off. Thanks to its suspensions, the Veyron was a surprisingly comfortable car to drive and, obviously, given its million Euro price tag, all the materials inside were absolutely premium: all the cabin’s surfaces were a tactile delight, the butter-soft leather beautifully finished, the smooth and machine-turned aluminium exquisite. The sound system offered phenomenal performance, and the sound-proofing excelled many high-end luxury sedans. Produced until 2015, special versions of the Veyron followed; amongst them, the Hermès, the Sang Noir, the Grand Sport and the Grand Sport Vitesse must be remembered.
Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir (top left) next to a Bugatti Atlantic ( bottom right).
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, Rétromobile Paris, 2020
CHIRON
Inspired by Jascha Straub: Bugatti Chiron Pure Sport in light blue Sport matt and blue carbon matt.
With the Chiron, named after the famous Monegasque driver Louis Chiron, the main carry over component from the Veyron — the ludicrous W16 engine — has been heavily updated to unleash a peak power of 1,500 hp and 1,600 Nm of torque. Like its predecessor, the Chiron utilises a carbon fibre body structure, independent suspension and a Haldex all-wheel drive system. It accelerates from 0–300 km/h in 13.1 seconds, with an electronically-limited top speed — special key required, as seen on the Veyron — of 420 km/h. Bugatti concluded that no tire currently manufactured would be able to handle the top speed’s stress the Chiron is capable of achieving. 200 of the 500 hyper cars produced were sold before the first delivery in 2016, at a base price of € 2,4 million. Astonishing special versions also followed throughout the years, till 2022: amongst them, the Les Légendes du Ciel, the Super Sport 300+, the Pure Sport and La Voiture Noire must be included.
Bugatti Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel” static - front view
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
La Voiture Noire ©KRISCULAP
DIVO
The Bugatti Divo
The Chiron evolved into the Divo, in a limited run of 40 units produced between 2019 and 2021. This hyper car takes inspiration from the Type 57SC Atlantic along with the 2015 Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo concept in terms of design, and it has track-oriented performance as main focus.
Sport upgrades include a redesigned exhaust system featuring quad pipes, a wide fixed rear wing, a naca duct on the roof that channels air to the rear central fin for improved downforce, a large front chin spoiler, more refined side-skirts, larger air intakes on the front. The interior of the Divo is relatively similar to the more luxurious Chiron, but has Alcantara upholstery and carbon fibre trim in order to save weight. The Divo is 8 seconds faster than the Chiron around the Nardò test track, but the top speed, however, is reduced to 380 km/h, owing to the extra drag produced by the aerodynamic elements and due to excessive pressure on the tires resulting from the lower ride height. All Divo’s were pre-sold to Chiron owners before the public debut and sold out on its first day of availability.
The new, vertically oriented front lights with daytime running light on the outer edge in each case feature extremely compact, lightweight LED headlights with a flat light opening of only 35 millimetres.
Bugatti Divo lateral view
Bugatti Divo interior
BOLIDE
The Bugatti Bolide serves as a carrier of technological expertise and enabled the use of new materials and manufacturing processes.
Despite the fact that Bugatti sold 700 multi-million units since 2005, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess saw the unprofitable brand as a ballast. Talks began with Rimac Automobili, which merged to form Bugatti Rimac, a joint venture between the Croatian-based company and Porsche AG. Under the new ownership, an announcement arrived: the Bolide would have been Bugatti's first track only hyper-car. Built around the existing, almighty W16 engine will have a power output of 1,578 hp and an expected top speed to be over 500 km/h. As part of its 2021 Monterey Car Week announcement, Bugatti said that it will produce 40 production-spec models. Currently, the hyper-car is being pushed through the final stages of its development program, and it is aimed to commence being delivered in 2024 with a price tag starting from € 4 million.
The Bugatti Bolide is real: the technical concept is drivable.
The interior of the Bolide: Purposely built and yet well in line with Bugatti’s design DNA for a symbiosis of form and performance in perfect balance. This starts by opening the door, giving great entrance space and ergonomic feel and finds its continuation in the layout of every single switch or button.
MISTRAL
Bugatti’s ultimate roadster – the W16 Mistral – headed to the Sharjah desert and stopped at the BEEAH Group headquarters designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
“For the final road-going appearance of Bugatti’s legendary W16 engine, we knew we had to create a roadster. Well over 40% of all Bugatti vehicles ever created have been open-top in design, establishing a long lineage of performance icons that – to this day – are revered the world over. In the Chiron era there had, been no roadster, so the introduction of W16 Mistral continues this legacy, driven by enormous demand from the clients for an all-new way to experience the mighty performance of our iconic engine. The W16 Mistral will open the next chapter in the Bugatti roadster story, inspired by over a century of open top legends.”
Deliveries to customers will begin in early 2024 — with all the 99 units already pre-sold at a price of € 5 million — and will mount the Chiron Super Sport 300+ 1600 hp power-plant.
Bugatti’s ultimate roadster – the W16 Mistral – headed to the Sharjah desert and stopped at the BEEAH Group headquarters designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
The timeless interior of the Bugatti W16 Mistral in the desert.
Bugatti’s ultimate roadster – the W16 Mistral – headed to the Sharjah desert and stopped at the BEEAH Group headquarters designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.