Once the fastest production car in the world, only to be beaten by its own special editions and few others with great controversy, the Bugatti Veyron hit the automotive world like a right hook from Manny Pacquiao when it was released in 2005. It quickly redefined what we though was possible from an engineering standpoint, using four turbochargers and 16 cylinders to generate more than 1000hp, while requiring no less than ten radiators to keep cool. With each new edition, Bugatti seemed to out-do itself, so much so that it left us wondering what there would be left to achieve with the next generation car. According to a report from UK-based Autocar Magazine, quite a lot.

In their report, they claim that an insider has told them that a new version is to go on sale in 2015, and will likely be too fast to test due to the limitations of tire technology. Autocar reports that the upcoming hypercar will be capable of an insane 286mph, and is able to complete the sprint to 60mph in just 2.3 seconds. It will achieve these speeds through use of a “heavily updated” version of the Veyron’s W16 engine, which will also incorporate hybrid technology to make somewhere around 1500hp. Since Bugatti insiders claim the five prototypes are currently being constructed under Veyron bodywork, nothing is set in stone but we’d reckon that they’ve done their homework before throwing out such ambitious (and oddly specific) numbers.

In terms of styling, the new Bugatti will reportedly be an evolution of the current design, much like the transition between the upcoming third generation Audi TT and the second generation car that it replaces. With production estimated to be capped at 450 units, we have no doubts that Bugatti will find buyers for each one they product as there are only 15 Veyrons (!) that have yet to be sold. And because waiting for your Veyron to be lovingly hand-crafted was perhaps the world’s biggest first world problem, Bugatti has begun preparing an additional production line to reduce production times. In that, it seems that the Veyron replacement will be faster in every way than the car it replaces.

As part of the Monterey Car Week (11 – 17 August), Bugatti is celebrating the conclusion of its “Les Légendes de Bugatti” edition (Bugatti Legends). One year ago, Bugatti launched the exclusive model series during the Monterey Car Week at the well-known and attended automotive events “The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering” and “Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance” with the first Legend. This year, the crowning conclusion will be held on August 15 at the same location with the world première of the company’s sixth Legend. It honors Ettore Bugatti, founder and patron of the brand, and is based on the historical model Type 41 Royale. As with the five previous Legends, only three of the final Legends model will be produced. It costs €2.35 million net. Bugatti is presenting all six Bugatti Legends together for the first and only time.

“Ettore Bugatti is our ‘patron’. His demand that an automobile be a perfect harmony of technology and aesthetics still applies to us today,” said Wolfgang Dürheimer, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “Ettore Bugatti always strived for the creation of a total work of art. His ideas and vehicles set the foundation stone for an automobile brand that was lauded then and now as the most valuable in the world. Ettore Bugatti himself is a legend. It was clear from the start that we should dedicate the final Legends model to him personally.” Ettore Bugatti is one of the most important figures of the automotive world in the 20th century. He knew how to combine his family’s rich artistic heritage with his technological ideas and succeeded in creating the foundation for a design language that shaped the brand for years to come and made it unmistakable. The brand’s values of “Art, Forme, Technique” define this unique approach. Under his leadership, vehicles were produced that were ahead of their times both technically and stylistically, and are today highly valued collectors’ items. Two such vehicles are the Type 57 SC Atlantic and the unforgettable Type 41 Royale that Ettore Bugatti built as the most powerful and luxurious car of its time. It also serves as the historical basis for this Bugatti Legend. The lightweight construction designs of the 1920s, such as the Type 13 “Brescia” or the Type 35 – which was one of the most successful racing cars in motor sport history with 2,000 victories and podium finishes – are further notable representatives of the brand.

One-off presentation of all six Legends at Pebble Beach

Alongside the world première of the Ettore Bugatti Legend, for the first and only time, Bugatti will be presenting all six models of the Legends Edition on Friday, August 15 at “The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering” and also on Sunday, August 17 at the “Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance”.

The Bugatti Legend “Ettore Bugatti”

The “Ettore Bugatti” Legend is based on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse1, as are all the other Legends. The super sports car is powered by a 1,200 PS, 8-litre W16 engine that transmits an unequalled 1,500 Nm at 3,000 to 5,000 rpm to the tarmac and rockets it from zero to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds. With a maximum speed of 408.84 km/h (254 MPH) with the roof down, the Vitesse is the world’s fastest production roadster ever built.

Design – pure image

“The legend’s design is dedicated to Ettore Bugatti’s passion for the unusual in automobile construction. One of his masterpieces – the Type 41 Royale – never fails to impress and inspire with its mere presence,” explains Achim Anscheidt, Chief Designer at Bugatti. “Ettore liked to describe his creations as ‘Pur Sang’, as thoroughbreds. In dedicating this Bugatti Legend to him, we are staying true to his philosophy of aesthetically functional beauty for the automobile by using pure and natural materials such as polished aluminium and the finest cordovan leather.”

A body of clear-coated carbon and hand-polished aluminium

Exterior. The design of the carbon body of the Legends model “Ettore Bugatti” is based on a 1932 Type 41 Royale with the chassis number 41111 and sports a “yin-yang” color split. The front part is made of hand-polished aluminium and finished with a clear coating. Bugatti is the only manufacturer to use clear-coated aluminium on a production vehicle. For the first time, this material is used for the entire front and side panels including the bonnet, the mirror bases and housings, the exterior door handles and the corners of the bumpers, the wings, the doors and the regions just behind them, the so-called “medallions” (in French). The vehicle’s rear, sill panels and A-pillar trims are finished with dark-blue exposed carbon. Based on one of the most famous wheel rim designs in automotive history, the polished, diamond-cut wheel rims were specially developed for this vehicle and color-coordinated with a dark-blue finish. The eight-spoke wheel was created by Ettore Bugatti who was looking for a light wheel for his racing cars, like the famous Type 35. Ettore Bugatti thus made a decisive contribution to the development of the aluminium wheel in automobile manufacture. The new wheel rim design on the Vitesse Legend therefore carries the name “Ettore Bugatti.”

The distinctive Bugatti horseshoe and the EB logo at the rear shine out in platinum and underscore the gleaming exterior appearance of this Bugatti Legend.

The signature of the company’s founder Ettore Bugatti is engraved into the tank and oil cap and painted in silver.

Finest cordovan leather in the vehicle interior

Interior. Bugatti is using two types of leather for the first time in the “Ettore Bugatti” Legend. Traditional calf’s leather – here in a natural brown (Brun Cavalier) – is used throughout the vehicle interior. Those parts that are typically touched by hand including the steering wheel rim, gear lever, door handles, centre console armrest and door handle recesses, the switches in the door trims and in the roof module are all jacketed in an exclusive, natural cordovan leather. Bugatti is using this skilfully created leather – the tanning process alone takes around six months – for the first time. It is typically used for high-quality shoes and is particularly durable and sure to the touch.

The exterior’s blue exposed carbon is present again in the vehicle interior, such as in the door trims and cover of the rear centre box, perfectly complemented by the seats’ dark-blue seams. The eye-catching feature of the interior is the platinum-coated dancing elephant, that is inset in the cover of the rear centre box and reminiscent of the hood ornament of the Type 41 Royale. The figure was originally sculpted by Ettore’s brother, Rembrandt. Other well-known Legends features have also been included in this vehicle, namely the “Brun Cavalier” leather-clad insert in the centre console extension which bears the “Les Légendes de Bugatti” nameplate and the relief of the dancing elephant as well as the door sills bearing the portrait and signature of Ettore Bugatti.

Ettore Bugatti – automotive pioneer and legend

Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti – his full name – was born in Milan on 15 September 1881, the second child of this highly creative family. His parents hoped that he would pursue an artistic career like his father and grandfather before him. But instead he became fascinated with technology, leaving the “Accademia die Belle Arti di Brera” in Milan to begin, at 17, an apprenticeship in a bicycle/tricycle factory. There he built his first motorized tricycle, and soon thereafter his first automobile. The construction was so remarkable that it earned him a prize at an internationally recognised exhibition in Milan. In the following year, he moved to Niederbronn in Alsace, where the manufacturer De Dietrich, impressed with Bugatti’s first construction, trusted him with the management of automobile manufacture. Ettore Bugatti developed new models and took part in several car races until 1904. After leaving De Dietrich & Cie, he took on a number of jobs in automobile construction, including a job at the Deutz gas engine factory in Cologne in September 1907. At this time, Bugatti privately developed a very light vehicle, the Type 10, which he built a little later under his own name. He left Deutz in 1909 and leased the empty buildings of a former dyeworks factory in Molsheim (Alsace) and founded his own automotive company. Production of the T13 began and grew year by year.

Thereafter came other light sports cars and an entry into motor racing. Bugatti enjoyed racing successes at Le Mans in 1920 and four times at Brescia in 1921. He built the famous Type 35 Grand Prix car in 1925, an automobile that won an incredible 412 races in only its first nine months. It was during these years that production of those automobiles people associate with the Bugatti brand was begun. Racing, sport and touring cars of their quality can hardly be found from any other factory. The prototype for the kingly limousine was produced in 1926: the Type 41 Royale.

Ettore was a versatile inventor. He not only built cars but also dedicated some of his time to the construction of trains, aeroplanes and boats. So it was that Royale engines were produced for the new high-speed train for French railways in Molsheim at the beginning of the 1930s.

Production of the Type 57 began in 1934. This best-selling touring car’s body was designed by Ettore’s son Jean. Ettore handed over day-to-day running of the business to Jean in 1936, by which time his son had made a name for himself as an exceptionally gifted designer. Ettore’s hopes for the future of the company rested on his son’s shoulders. Tragically, Jean died in an automobile accident in 1939, a heavy blow for Ettore that also had consequences for the company. Ettore Bugatti died from complications arising from pneumonia on 21 August 1947 in Paris. His business was closed upon sale of the company at the beginning of the 1960s. It was not until Volkswagen acquired the brand rights in 1998 and began development of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 that the foundations for a sustainable and successful continuation of the brand were laid.

Ettore Bugatti’s legacy is still present today and lives on in the brand.

The Type 41 Royale – automotive icon and “vehicle of kings”

As a young man, Ettore Bugatti had always dreamt of building the most powerful and luxurious production car the world had ever seen. It was not until 1926 that he was able to turn his dream into a reality. With the acclaimed Type 41 Royale, he created a car that was in a league of its own in terms of performance, size, comfort, quality and elegance. For its prototype, Ettore designed an 8-cylinder in-line engine with an overhead camshaft, a capacity of almost 15 liters and a monolithic head and engine block. The production version had a 12.7-liter engine with the three valves per cylinder that were typical for Bugatti at that time. The engine produced around 300 PS at less than 2,000 rpm. The Royale is also regal in size: measuring approximately 6.5m long and 4.3m across the wheelbase, it weighs around 3 tonnes (approx. 6,600 lbs.) and boasts a 190-liter tank. The car’s crowning glory is its radiator cap which features an elephant sculpture created by Rembrandt Bugatti, Ettore’s brother. This elephant has since become a symbol that is synonymous with the Bugatti brand to this day.

The difficult economic conditions in Europe and America at the time meant that Ettore was unable to achieve his goal of producing the 25 vehicles that he had intended to sell to various royal families and heads of state. Only six vehicles were built and all of them still exist today.

Bugatti presented a special car, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse1 “1 of 1”, on Saturday in Pebble Beach, California. This edition of the fastest production roadster in the world impressively demonstrates a core competency of the French luxury brand, namely customisation. The Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” takes inspiration from the brand’s historical designs and vehicles. The result is a unique supercar which Bugatti president Wolfgang Dürheimer personally presented to the future owner from Singapore.

“The Bugatti Veyron is an iconic car, which has set benchmarks in many respects”, said Wolfgang Dürheimer, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “In addition to the certainty of owning the world’s fastest production sports car, exclusiveness is extremely important to our customers. This is the reason that we have always placed so much focus on customisation and personalisation at Bugatti.”

Every Bugatti which has been configured by a customer is unique. In addition to these, Bugatti produces strictly limited special editions. The Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” presented at Pebble Beach is truly one of a kind, with a number of features exclusively designed and developed by Bugatti for the customer of this car.

“For our customers, a Bugatti is an investment in an automotive work of art which will endure for generations. This is why every Bugatti is both unique and absolutely authentic in its technical prowess and stylistic form,” emphasises Achim Anscheidt, Chief Designer at Bugatti. In the creation of the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1”, the Bugatti design team and the customer took their inspiration from Bugatti’s history.

Bugatti revives the brand’s traditional colours, black and yellow

The carbon-fibre body of the “1 of 1” was produced in black and yellow, reviving the historical Bugatti family colours. This colour scheme and the split will be exclusive to the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1”. Company founder Ettore Bugatti and his son Jean had a number of important cars finished in the classic duo-tone combination of black and yellow, including the Fiacre bodies of the Type 41 Royale, the Type 55 and the Type 44. For this reason, the “1 of 1” was presented to the customer next to a Type 44 which was provided by the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, USA, especially for this occasion.

The black-and-yellow colour scheme went beyond the vehicles themselves at Bugatti. Even the beams over the old oak gates of the Bugatti headquarters in Molsheim, Alsace were painted in these colours.

The Bugatti designers gave the historical colour combination a modern interpretation and developed an exclusive design which makes the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” unique. Most of the body is exposed deep-black carbon divided by a “1 of 1” yellow tone, developed together with the customer, applied to sections of the front wings, beginning beneath the headlights and tapering as it extends behind the doors. The A-pillars, the air scoops, the engine cover and the striking rear wings are also finished in “1 of 1” yellow.

The wings were finished in a very special way. Sections of the carbon-fibre body parts were given a top coat while others received a clear coat. The differing finishes require substantial technical effort and highly skilled workmanship because the carbon-fibre layers must be differently applied exactly along the future colour boundaries in order to attain the weave patterns required for the clear-coated exposed carbon fibre and top-coated carbon fibre. The legendary Bugatti horseshoe on the front grille is yellow on the front part while the inner section is black. And it is impossible to overlook the wheels of the Grand Sport Vitesse. The rims are painted black and yellow. The rims with the unique dual tone are an exclusive feature of the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1”, and the initials of Ettore Bugatti on the hubcaps likewise glow in yellow. This detail also appears on the oil and fuel flap.

Newly developed design for the grille

For the first time, Bugatti has specially designed the radiator grille in the Bugatti horseshoe at the customer’s request. The traditional expanded mesh grille was replaced in the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” with a grille in which the customer’s initials, “PL”, were laser cut. In an extremely complex process, which Bugatti developed and patented, every inner surface of the grille was hand-polished. After that the grille was black-anodised, then the front was polished and the grill was finished again with a natural anodised layer. More than 200 working hours are needed to attain this special, luxurious anodised duo-tone appearance in the finest quality.

Bugatti logo as tribute to the brand

The customer’s wish to express the historical roots of Bugatti in his Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” was expressed in another detail of the car which cannot be overlooked: the brand logo, lovingly called the Bugatti “macaron”.

Company founder Ettore developed it himself, injecting his sense of workmanship and his love for luxurious detail, just as he did with his cars. An engineer to the core, Ettore Bugatti specified that the oval shape of the logo should be twice as long as it is high, as if one were to cut a tube at a thirty-degree angle. The name “Bugatti” is set off with a black shadow, over which the initials of Ettore Bugatti are elegantly placed. These initials, incidentally, are also used independently of this logo. Both elements are surrounded by sixty dots reminiscent of a string of pearls which increase the impression of elegance. The Bugatti logo still embellishes every Bugatti today and looks especially authentic as an enamel badge. In this form, the character of the logo upon which Ettore Bugatti placed such great value is well expressed: it is a hand-crafted work of art.

The Bugatti logo is among the most elegant automobile logos in the world today. No other modern Bugatti displays the Bugatti macaron as prominently as does the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1”. In addition to being displayed in its traditional place as an enamel badge on the grille of every Bugatti, here it appears in black on the yellow underside of the rear wing when it extends at 180 km/h.

Inside the car, the macaron is prominently embroidered in yellow in the black head rests.

The classic black-and-yellow colour scheme continues in the interior

The interior also clearly echoes to the Bugatti family colours. The complete interior is trimmed in black leather. The instrument panel is made of deep-black exposed carbon. The yellow decorative stitching on the steering wheel, seats and gear selector lever seems to glow. Gracing the cabin is a shining yellow Bugatti Type 35, the most successful racing car ever with more than 2,000 victories and podium finishes, and one of the brand’s most symbolic models. At the customer’s request, a sketch of the Type 35 executed by a Bugatti designer has been rendered in the black carbon lid of the rear centre box between the seats.

Bugatti uses laser perforation technique for the first time

The link to the modern history of Bugatti is created on the black door panels. A new production technique was used for this: the door panel is made from due-tone leather, black on the outside and yellow on the inside. The leather was perforated with a laser so that the holes exposed the inner yellow layer. The result is a silhouette of a Bugatti Veyron. Of course, the classic methods of customising were also used in the Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1”. For example, the Bugatti logo and the text “one of one” – both in yellow – decorate the black carbon inlays on the extension of the centre console. As a very personal touch, the Bugatti designers created a portrait of the customer and engraved it together with his name in the door sill trim.

Seemingly limitless choice of ways to customise

The Bugatti Veyron enjoys the reputation of being a unique masterpiece. Its market launch almost ten years ago revitalised the French luxury brand’s legendary automotive tradition characterised by superlatives. The Veyron is the most powerful and fastest production sports car in the world. Bordering on the limits of technological possibility, it is nevertheless endowed with great day-to-day practicality because it is both easy and intuitive to drive as well as being comfortable.

The Grand Sport Vitesse “1 of 1” is the result of many months of close cooperation between Bugatti’s design team and the customer. Focusing on the customers and their wishes is one of the brand’s great strengths. In the spirit of Ettore Bugatti, whose motto was “Nothing is too expensive, nothing is too beautiful”, the company continues to work in partnership with its customers to design vehicles which express both the legend of the brand and the personality of the customers.

“A Bugatti is purchased as a collector’s item. As a brand, we do everything to be worthy of the trust placed in us and to maintain the sustained value of this automotive icon,” notes Wolfgang Dürheimer. “This means that we also support our customers in the personalisation of their Bugatti in the way they would like it. Our customers’ wishes are our highest priority.” The average net price of Bugatti vehicles sold, including options, is presently more than €2 million. For example, the clear-coated exposed carbon-fibre body is very popular. To go with it, Bugatti now offers nine colours, more than any other manufacturer. The French luxury brand presently offers more than 100 different colours for fully painted carbon-fibre bodies. Bugatti also works passionately to satisfy its customers’ wishes regarding the colours for the leather in the interior or the selection of exclusive materials such as gold, platinum, porcelain, crystal glass and more.

Volkswagen AG (VOW) wants to make sure this year isn’t the last chance to get a new Bugatti.

There are fewer than 20 left of the VW unit’s Veyron, a limited production line of 450 Bugatti cars that start at 1.46 million euros ($1.85 million). Now VW is testing at least three different concepts for a successor, according two people familiar with the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker’s plans, who asked not to be identified before an official announcement.

VW is pumping cash into its most exclusive marque even as it plans cutbacks for its more terrestrial brands. The Veyron set industry records not just for speed, but also for losing money, according to estimates from Max Warburton, a Singapore-based analyst for Sanford Bernstein Ltd. The cost of developing the Veyron, introduced in 2005, means VW may lose 4.6 million euros per vehicle over its life cycle, Warburton said.

“I have long struggled to understand the logic of expending this much time and effort on a Bugatti-branded product,” he said in an e-mail. “I totally get the point of building the world’s fastest car -- it pushes the engineering boundaries, motivates the company and can be an image booster. But the image-boosting part is lost when it carries a brand that 95 percent of people don’t know is part of VW.”

The new Bugatti will vie for the world’s most affluent customers with the likes of Italy’s Pagani Automobili SpA, McLaren Automotive Ltd.’s street cars and the U.S.-built Hennessey Venom GT. VW will display a special-edition Veyron at the Paris Motor Show starting this week.

Stronger Engine

The next generation will be lighter and, if tests are successful, could feature an engine as much as 25 percent stronger than the 1,200-horsepower motor of the current model’s most powerful version, according to the people briefed on the plans. At least one of VW’s concepts includes an electric motor to boost power and lower emissions, the people said.

Manuela Hoehne, a spokeswoman for Bugatti, said the company will give an outlook on a new model next year. She declined to comment in detail on the concept plans. VW design chief Walter de Silva told BBC’s TopGear the new model would be unveiled at the end of next year or early 2016 and will be “art.”

Meanwhile, thousands of workers rallied last week at the group’s largest factory and expressed concern that the company is planning to cut costs for its mass-market brands. The assembly lines in industrial Wolfsburg are 500 kilometers (311 miles) north of where Veyrons are custom built in the picturesque Alsace town of Molsheim, France. The German city created to produce the original Beetle is where Volkswagen makes the Golf hatchback, the Tiguan small SUV and the Touran minivan, bread-and-butter vehicles for the middle class.

Inevitable Cutbacks

VW Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn caused a stir in Wolfsburg in July when he told his top brass that cutbacks are inevitable to make the company’s namesake passenger-car brand more profitable. The unit’s margins were 2.1 percent in the first half, and Winterkorn wants it to reach 6 percent. He set a target of boosting earnings by 5 billion euros by 2017.

The Audi luxury unit said two weeks later it would also need to keep an eye on costs. It didn’t set a specific target.

VW’s premium-car brands, including Audi and Porsche, contributed about two-thirds of the group’s first-half operating profit of 6.19 billion euros. That’s one reason the company cites for investing in Bugatti: the ultra-high-end car shows people who might want to buy its other luxury brands what VW is capable of doing.

Formula 1

“Premium starts in the high-end segment,” Audi Chief Financial Officer Axel Strotbek said at an event in Frankfurt last month. “You have to invest for this.”

Profits from Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche subsidize Bugatti, purchased in 1998 along with the Lamborghini and Bentley nameplates under the tenure of then-CEO and current chairman Ferdinand Piech. VW doesn’t release financial details for Bugatti, and executives have said the costs are moderate compared to what their peers spend on prestige projects like Formula 1 racing.

“Bugatti boosts the technical knowledge for other VW group brands, so it’s difficult to measure this ultra-luxury marque purely in financial terms,” Roman Mathyssek, a Munich-based analyst at consulting company Strategy Engineers GmbH, said by phone.

The new Bugatti underscores the growing complexity VW has to master within its stable of 12 brands, which apart from mass-market and premium cars also includes Scania’s 40-ton trucks and Ducati motorbikes. The company says the wide range on display tonight at a presentation before the Paris car show gives it an edge over rivals as costs can be shared between different brands.

Caviar Tray

With the Bugatti, VW has layered luxury onto luxury, selling an “Ettore Bugatti” Legend Veyron, named after the brand’s founder, that can clock 62 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds and reach a top speed more than four times that. Its previous 1.65 million-euro L’Or Blanc edition included a built-in caviar tray from Berlin-based KPM, a 251-year-old porcelain maker that traces its roots back to King Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Details like that reflect how a Bugatti, unlike a Golf, a Porsche or even a $178,000 Bentley, doesn’t really compete with other cars. It vies with yachts or London Mayfair apartments instead. Global supercar sales will probably remain stable at about 2,700 vehicles per year through 2020, as manufacturers seek to restrict production to maintain exclusivity, according to IHS Automotive.

“The clientele between Bentley and Bugatti is remarkably different,” Wolfgang Duerheimer, who returned to his post as Bentley CEO and president of Bugatti in June after 2 years, told reporters in July. “The Bentley customer on average owns 8 cars. The average Bugatti customer has about 84 cars, 3 jets and one yacht.”

The 450th Veyron: Grand Sport Vitesse “La Finale” The last of the 450 Veyron supercars is the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse “La Finale”. It draws its sheer force from a 1,200 PS, 8-litre, W16 engine which provides a breathtaking maximum torque of 1,500 Nm. It sprints from zero to 100 km/h in just 2.6 seconds and can achieve a top speed of 410 km/h.

The “La Finale” design is a modern homage to chassis number 1

“When designing the “La Finale”, the designers sought inspiration from the first Veyron in order to provide a visual conclusion to the success story of this super sports car,” says Bugatti’s chief designer Achim Anscheidt. “Although both vehicles have a black and red colour scheme, chassis numbers one and 450 still have their own individual character which we have identified visually. Ultimately, every Veyron is unique.” The owner of the Grand Sport Vitesse “La Finale” also had a say in the design of the vehicle.

Première for red exposed carbon fibre

The design of the carbon bodywork of “La Finale” is based on chassis number one which was designed ten years ago in the traditional Bugatti two-tone colour scheme, which was popular in Bugatti models of the 1920s and 1930s. This striking design language remains inseparable from the Veyron to this day. For the “La Finale”, the front wing panels, the doors and the areas between the doors and the side air intakes, known as “medallions” in French, are made from black exposed carbon fibre. The other parts of the outer shell are made from red exposed carbon fibre, the first time this colour has ever been used on a vehicle. Including this new colour, Bugatti now offers a total of eight different tints for exposed carbon fibre. The French luxury brand is an industry leader in terms of not only the diversity of the colour schemes it offers, but also in relation to the quality and processing of the exposed carbon fibre.

Unusually for a Veyron, the name of the Grand Sport Vitesse has been incorporated into the outer shell. The “La Finale” lettering, which highlights the extra significance of this particular super sports car, appears twice: once very clearly under the right front headlight and then in a slightly concealed position on the underside of the rear wing. In both cases, the bright “Italian Red” lettering is painted into the black exposed carbon fibre.

For the first time in a Veyron, the air scoops and intercooler cover have been painted black. The EB logo and the relief “16.4” have also been emblazoned on it in Italian Red.

The wheel design is also in keeping with the red and black colour scheme. It is worth mentioning the hubcaps that were milled from a single block of aluminium – another example of the tremendous lengths that Bugatti goes to in the production of its vehicles. And that’s not all: each hubcap features a relief of the famous Bugatti elephant that was created during the milling process and then painted black. Rembrandt Bugatti, renowned sculptor and brother of company founder Ettore, designed this figure which was later used as a radiator cap on the Type 41 Royale and subsequently became a symbol of the brand. The elephant can also be found on the red fuel tank cover and oil cap as a black anodised insert made from milled aluminium.

An interior of strong, sophisticated contrasts

As with the exterior, the interior of the “La Finale” also pays tribute to the first Veyron. It was upholstered entirely in leather in a light beige colour known as “Silk”. Leather also adds a refined touch to the interior of the “La Finale”, where it eatures in the centre seat panels, the footwell, the headliner, the cowling and the rear wall. Unlike chassis number one, the designers and the customer have settled on contrasting colours for chassis number 450, selecting a striking red tone known as “Hot Spur”. This red appears in the arm rests, the instrument panel, the dashboard, the side bolsters and on the steering wheel rim, which is also decorated with stitching in “Silk” beige.

Red exposed carbon fibre is also used in the interior: on the centre tunnel, on the inserts in the centre console, on the door panels and seat shells.

The red head restraints are adorned with “La Finale” lettering embroidered in “Silk” colour. The lettering is found again in “Italian Red” in the door sill strips, etched into the black exposed carbon fibre.

The jewel in the interior is undoubtedly the Bugatti elephant on the stowage compartment cover made from red exposed carbon fibre and located in the rear panel between the seats. The elephant was cast in bronze with great technical skill, given a black patina, and then worked into the cover as an insert. The lettering “450/450” has been painted in black under the bronze cast.

The Geneva International Motor Show will be staged from 5 to 15 March 2015 at the Palexpo exhibition centre in Geneva. The Bugatti exhibit is in hall 1.