Romano Artioli (born 5 December 1932, in Moglia) is an Italian entrepreneur and one-time owner of

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

and Lotus automobile brands. Artioli was born in Moglia in the

Province of Mantua The province of Mantua (; Emilian language#Dialects, Mantuan, Emilian language#Dialects, Lower Mantuan: ; Emilian language#Dialects, Upper Mantuan: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of M ...

. He was raised in

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

where in the 1980s he operated one of the largest

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

dealerships in the world, selling in northern Italy and southern Germany. He also imported Japanese cars, owning ''Autoexpò'' which in 1982 became the first Italian importer of

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

. He was encouraged by

Ferruccio Lamborghini Ferruccio Lamborghini ( ; ; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian automobile designer, soldier, inventor, mechanic, engineer, winemaker, industrialist, and businessman who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and the Lamborghini, ...

and Paolo Stanzani to establish ''Bugatti International'', a holding company that bought the Bugatti trademark name in 1987 with Jan K Breitfeld as President of the holding. Artioli became chairman of Bugatti Automobili S.p.A., which made the Bugatti EB 110 between 1991 and 1995. In 1993, his wife Renata Kettmeir formed the

-based ''Ettore Bugatti'' luxury item maker, also using the Bugatti "EB" logo. Their involvement ended in September 1995 due to

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

, and the company was eventually bought by

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

in April 1998. Prior to the sale to Volkswagen, private equity investor CVC attempted a purchase of Bugatti via UK corporate finance advisor Anglo American Ventures, however the £100m deal failed at due diligence stage. Artioli purchased Lotus from

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

in August 1993 and became its chairman until 1996 when he stepped down to be Special Projects director until 1998. He sold a majority stake to

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

in 1996 to fund his losses due to the insolvency of Bugatti. His daughter Elena Artioli (born 1970) is a politician for the

South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party (, SVP) is a regionalism (politics), regionalist and mostly Christian democracy, Christian-democratic list of political parties in South Tyrol, political party in South Tyrol, an Autonomous administrative divisio ...

and Lega Nord Alto Adige – Südtirol.elenaartioli.com
The

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a sports car conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. A two-seater Roadster (automobile), roadster with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, the Elise has a fibregl ...

was named after Romano Artioli's granddaughter Elisa Artioli.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artioli, Romano Bugatti people Lotus Cars Businesspeople from the Province of Mantua Living people 1932 births