Bugatti La Voiture Noire

The Most Expensive Car In The World

When people see a car that is stamped with the Bugatti logo, they immediately know it’s an expensive toy. But what happens when one of the most expensive car brands creates an one-off model? Well, the result is the unique Bugatti La Voiture Noire, which was the world’s most expensive production car ever made. (N.B. Since then, Bugatti has lost this title to the recently presented £20 million Rolls-Royce Boat Tail). To be precise, the price tag of the La Voiture Noire is EUR 16.7 million – and that’s just the official brand selling price, not the actual market price. The latter would surely pass the EUR 50 million mark (if ever sold). However, at least the current owner gets everything Bugatti has to offer with this masterpiece.

Homage To The Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic

The background behind the name of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire is the legendary Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic. Only four of the latter were ever built, while the second disappeared in the late ’30s.

Jean Bugatti had the second Atlantic built for himself. Only he, and occasionally some select friends – usually racing drivers, were allowed to sit behind the large steering wheel of the coupe with chassis number 57453. Bugatti used “La Voiture Noire” (French for “the black car”) as a model for brochure photos, exhibitions and other marketing purposes. Unlike the other three models, the track of the sports car was lost after 1938. It is not entirely clear whether Jean Bugatti sold the car to a friend or if it was sent from Alsace, France, to a safer region during World War II, when the German Wehrmacht invaded. However, the disappearance of the Jean Bugatti’s Type 57 SC Atlantic remains one of the greatest mysteries in the automotive world. The unique La Voiture Noire from 2019 is, thus, a great homage to the original vehicle. I would wish to see both cars one day together on stage.

Performance Of The Bugatti La Voiture Noire

The Bugatti La Voiture Noire, which is more than three times as expensive as the Bugatti Divo and costs around six times as much as a “normal” Chiron, is a rocket on four wheels.It relies on the 8-liter W16 engine, which produces 1500 PS and 1600 Nm, just like in the Chiron. Bugatti does not claim any any performance figures for the one-off model, but they are likely to be on a par with the Chiron’s 2.4 seconds from 0-100 km/h. Furthermore, it is likely that the La Voiture Noire matches the top speed of 420 km/h.

Expensive Design

Although the hypercar is based on the Chiron, the design of the La Voiture Noire is unique.

The one-off is intended to combine the comfort of a luxury limousine with the power of a hypercar. For example, the completely redesigned rims were specially made. The rear of “La Voiture Noire” is also an eye-catcher. It looks much more elegant than Bugatti’s other hypercars, like the Divo or Chiron. The taillights, in particular, are jaw-dropping. They cover the full width of the car as one piece. Right underneath is the Bugatti lettering. Above it the familiar EB logo.

The hottest designed feature might be the heavily discussed exhaust pipes. According to Achim Anscheidt, Director of Design at Bugatti, the exhaust pipes were designed at the request of the customer. After the first drafts, the current owner was more than enthusiastic. However, he was not happy with the car having less than six exhaust pipes for a car with a EUR 16.7 million price tag.

Ownership

In the meantime, there has been a lot of speculation about who could be the owner of the vehicle. Since TCC knows who calls the Bugatti La Voiture Noire his own, we can tell you that it is not football legend Cristiano Ronaldo, as many assumed.  Neither it is a royal individual from the Middle East, as is thought by many collectors around the world.

Well, La Voiture Noire is Bugatti’s bow to its own past; a manifesto of the Bugatti aesthetic and a piece of automotive haute couture.