Who Owns Bugatti?

Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan in 1881 to an artistic family. His father Carlo Bugatti was a designer and furniture maker. Ettore trained as an engineer but had equal interest in aesthetics, a combination that defined every car the company would build.

Ettore established his automobile manufacturing operation in Molsheim in 1909. Molsheim was then part of the German Empire's Alsace-Lorraine region; it reverted to France after World War I. Bugatti's early cars were known for precise engineering and racing success. The Type 13 won the Brescia races in 1921. The Type 35, introduced in 1924, became the most successful Grand Prix racing car of its era, winning approximately 2,000 races between 1924 and 1930.

The Type 41 Royale, built between 1927 and 1933, was one of the largest automobiles ever constructed. Only six were made, each with a 12.7-litre engine. Ettore intended them for royalty; most were sold to wealthy industrialists. The Royale has since sold at auction for prices in the millions.

The Bugatti Type 57, produced from 1934 to 1940, is widely regarded as among the most beautiful cars ever made. Jean Bugatti, Ettore's son, designed the bodywork. Jean died in 1939 testing a racing car at Molsheim. Ettore never fully recovered from the loss and the company slowed significantly. Ettore died in 1947.

The Molsheim factory produced some vehicles under different management in the postwar years but was never commercially significant. The Bugatti name passed through several ownership arrangements. Romano Artioli, an Italian entrepreneur, revived the brand in 1991 with production of the EB110 in a new factory in Campogalliano, Italy. The EB110 was technically sophisticated but commercially unsuccessful. Artioli's company went bankrupt in 1995.

Volkswagen Group acquired the Bugatti name and intellectual property in 1998 as part of its broader 1998 acquisition campaign that also brought in Bentley and Lamborghini. Under VW ownership, the brand returned to Molsheim and developed the Veyron. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4, launched in 2005, produced 1,001 horsepower and cost approximately 1 million euros, making it at the time the most powerful and most expensive production car ever built. Volkswagen is reported to have lost money on each Veyron sold due to the cost of development and production.

The Chiron succeeded the Veyron in 2016, producing 1,500 horsepower and priced from approximately 2.7 million euros. The Chiron Super Sport 300+ set an unofficial production car speed record of 490.484 km/h in 2019, though Bugatti stated this was not a formal record attempt. Limited series variants of the Chiron, including the Divo, Centodieci, and La Voiture Noire, were sold in tiny numbers at prices from 5 million to 18 million euros.

In 2021, Volkswagen Group transferred Bugatti into the Bugatti Rimac joint venture, as described above. The current flagship is the Tourbillon, unveiled in June 2024. It uses a naturally aspirated 8.3-litre V16 engine combined with three electric motors, producing approximately 1,800 horsepower. Starting price is approximately 3.8 million euros. Production is limited to 250 units.