Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.

Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. () is a French luxury automobile manufacturer and luxury brand for hyper sports cars. The company was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group and is based in Molsheim, Alsace, France. The Bugatti name was first made famous by Ettore Bugatti (1881–1947), who established the original Bugatti automobile brand in 1909 at Molsheim and built sports, racing and luxury cars.

In November 2021, the company became part of Bugatti Rimac, a joint venture between Rimac Group and Porsche AG. Since November 1, 2021, the company has been led by Mate Rimac as chief executive officer of Bugatti Rimac.

History

On December 22, 1998, Volkswagen AG, a German automotive manufacturer now controlled by Porsche SE, established Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. as a French-registered, wholly-owned subsidiary. On the same day, the company took over the design and naming rights to Bugatti from Italian businessman Romano Artioli, who built supercars (such as the EB 110 and EB 112) with Bugatti SpA in Italy between 1987 and 1998. Since 2000, the Bugatti automobile brand has officially existed as Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., still abbreviated to Bugatti. Since then, the company's headquarters have once again been located in Molsheim, France.

On 22 December 2000, Volkswagen officially incorporated Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., with former VW drivetrain chief Karl-Heinz Neumann as president. The company purchased the 1856 Château Saint Jean, formerly Ettore Bugatti's guest house in Dorlisheim, near Molsheim, and began refurbishing it to serve as the company's headquarters. The original factory was still in the hands of Snecma, who were unwilling to part with it. At the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2000, VW announced that they would instead build a new modern ''atelier'' (factory) next to and south of the château. The ''atelier'' was officially inaugurated on 3 September 2005.

In September 2020, it was announced that Volkswagen was preparing to sell its Bugatti automobile brand, and talks began with the Croatian company Rimac Automobili. Around 700 Bugatti cars had been sold since 2005, but Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess saw the unprofitable brand as ballast, the company said.

In 2020, Bugatti delivered 77 vehicles to customers. In January 2021, Bugatti announced that it had increased its operating profit for the third year in a row. This marked the most successful year in the company's history.

In July 2021, it was announced that Bugatti Automobiles and the sports car operations of Rimac Automobili will be merged to form Bugatti Rimac, a joint venture between Rimac Group and Porsche AG. The newly formed Rimac Group will be the majority shareholder with a 55% stake in Bugatti Rimac, while Porsche AG will hold the remaining 45% stake, as well as a 24% stake in Rimac Group. The formation of Bugatti Rimac d.o.o. took place in the fourth quarter of 2021.

After years of building one-offs and limited edition models, in December 2021, Bugatti officially created its own bespoke division – Sur Mesure. The phrase means 'tailored' in French.

Concept cars

Italdesign Giugiaro designs

Volkswagen commissioned Italdesign's Giorgetto Giugiaro to design a series of concept cars to return the marque to prominence. The first example, the EB 118, was a two-door coupé and was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 1998. It was followed by the four-door EB 218 touring sedan, introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999. Later that year, the 18/3 Chiron was shown at the IAA in Frankfurt.

Volkswagen designs

Volkswagen designed the final Bugatti concept, the EB 18/4 GT in-house. Bugatti introduced the EB 18/4 at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show.

W18 Engine

All of these early concepts featured a 18-cylinder engine. This was the first-ever W-configuration engine on a passenger vehicle, with three blocks of 6 cylinders each. It shared many components with Volkswagen's modular engine family.

16C Galibier

The 16C Galibier was unveiled during the Celebration of the Centenary of the Marque in Molsheim. The presentation was only for Bugatti customers. The car show in Molsheim showed the car in blue carbon fibre and aluminum parts. One year later Bugatti showed the world the 16C Galibier Concept at "VW Group Night" at the Geneva Auto Show in a new black and aluminum color combination.

The Galibier, a 1020 HP sedan, was first shown as a concept in 2010 and when they planned to put it into production in 2015, it would have cost about $1.4 million. It would use the same 16-cylinder 8.0-litre engine as the Veyron but instead of four turbos, the 16C Galibier would instead use two superchargers to deliver better torque. Production would require new facilities in Molsheim, France, to be refitted, which pushed back potential deliveries until 2015.

In 2013, it was announced that the car will never be produced as they wish to focus on a Veyron replacement.

Production cars

In the 1980s the Bugatti brand was brought back as Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. in Italy. The company produced the EB110 in the 1990s, which put Bugatti back on the modern super-car scene. The company was then bought by Volkswagen at the end of the 20th century.

Veyron

In 2000, the company introduced a new engine concept. At the Paris, Geneva, and Detroit auto shows, Bugatti presented the EB 16/4 Veyron concept car, an all-wheel-drive 16-cylinder car with an engine output of . The EB 16/4 Veyron has an 8.0-liter engine with four turbochargers. It reached a top speed of . At the time, the Veyron was the most potent and fastest supercar ever built. In acceleration tests, it reached a speed of after 2.5 s, after 7.3 s, and after 16.8 s.

Development initially lasted until 2001; the EB 16/4 Veyron was given "advanced concept" status in advertising. At the end of 2001, Bugatti announced that the car was now officially called the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. The combination of numbers means 16 cylinders and a fourth design study. Initially, production was scheduled to start in 2003. Technical difficulties with the dual-clutch transmission and the unusual, extreme requirements at speeds well over 300 km/h led to several delays. Finally, production began in September 2005, and annual production was increased to 70 units due to long waiting times.

On June 26, 2010, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport set the world speed record for road-legal production sports cars with a top speed of . In August of the same year, this vehicle with was presented for the first time in Pebble Beach (U.S.). In April 2013, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse reached , the fastest speed ever recorded for a roadster. The Vitesse World Record Car Edition, limited to eight units, was subsequently presented to the world public for the first time at the Auto Shanghai trade show and sold out shortly after that.

At the 2015 IAA, the company unveiled a show car of its Vision Gran Turismo project. With the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo, the luxury manufacturer presented a possible new super sports car following the sale of all 450 Veyron. The Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo design is intended to recall the racing tradition of the 1920s and 1930s. The color scheme represents the brand's victories in the Le Mans 24-hour race. On November 6, 2015, the first showrooms in Bugatti's new CI look were opened simultaneously.

Chiron

On November 30, 2015, Bugatti announced that the successor to the Veyron would be called the Chiron. The name is dedicated to the Monegasque racing driver Louis Chiron, who began his racing career on a Bugatti Type 35 and won several Grand Prix races. On February 29, 2016, Bugatti unveiled its new Chiron hypercar at the Geneva Motor Show. It continues to be powered by an 8.0-liter 16-cylinder with four turbochargers, but now with and 1,600 Newton meters of torque. The Chiron accelerates to in 2.4 seconds from a standstill, reaches in 6.1 seconds, and in 13.1 seconds. The top speed is . Bugatti is the only automaker to build a W16 engine that produces over 1,500 hp. Since 2016, the Chiron has been home to the first mass-produced 3-D printed component, a small console on the transmission oil duct.

This makes the Chiron the fastest hypercar globally, and its base price is 2.4 million euros net. Production in Molsheim is limited to 500 vehicles, and the first production car was delivered to customers in March 2017. The Chiron made its debut on the US market in April 2016. On August 21, 2016, Bugatti unveiled the Vision Gran Turismo concept car, a real-life study of the vehicle in the Gran Turismo Sport video game. On September 11, 2017, the Chiron set a new world record. From 0 to and back to , the coupé took just 42 seconds.

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