Bugatti La Voiture Noire, heir to the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic

The unique and exceptional Bugatti La Voiture Noire shines on the red carpet at Palexpo

The occasion was ideal for the unveiling of a Bugatti of which only a single unit will ever exist, since this one-off christened the Bugatti La Voiture Noire is an exclusive request that the French marque has been pleased to fulfil.

As we have been reporting since last week, Bugatti announced the reinvention of the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic, an iconic model that would be the source of motivation for the brand’s designers and engineers to bring a 21st-century interpretation of that 1930s vehicle to life.

A difficult task which, in the words of Etienne Salomé, head of the project team, came with a single condition that hung over their heads like the sword of Damocles in the form of a question: “What if it were Jean (Bugatti, son of Ettore and the man responsible for the Type 57 SC Atlantic), how would he transfer the elegance of his own Atlantic to a Bugatti of today?”.

Based on its brand-new Bugatti Chiron, the team that has worked on this Bugatti La Voiture Noire has adapted the original concept of the Type 57 SC Atlantic without altering the brutality of the mechanical package that brings the Bugatti Chiron itself to life and the equally exceptional Bugatti Divo: the eight-litre W16 engine that incorporates four turbos to produce 1,500 CV of power and 1,600 Nm of torque.

A piece of work in which every component has been handcrafted and assembled by hand, just like the vehicles that inspired today’s Bugatti La Voiture Noire.

Stephan Winkelmann’s hand does not sculpt, but it shapes the new Bugatti

Indeed, this project is also the work of Stephan Winkelmann. Because if we learned anything from the former CEO of Lamborghini, it is that this visionary knows the value of launching special editions of very specific models or, even more so, limited-run pieces.

For example, the Lamborghini Veneno, also presented at the Geneva Motor Show but in 2013, not only brings substantial profits to the brand he leads, but also helps maintain the halo and the hierarchy of its presentations, wherever this executive goes, who has held the reins of Bugatti since January 2018.

Winkelmann himself states that “Customers expect us to surprise them regularly and to push the limits beyond imagination”, and that is why, when money is not a problem but a justification, automotive works of art such as this Bugatti La Voiture Noire, presented in Switzerland today, are produced.

https://youtu.be/QIlOZFmHfVs

As for the cost of such limited productions, in the case of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire its price is eleven million euros, taxes not included, thus achieving the record of being the most expensive new Bugatti ever sold.