Home >> Car >> Bugatti

Bugatti was founded in Molsheim, France (originally a district of Germany), as a manufacturer of high performance automobiles by Ettore Bugatti, an Italian man described as an eccentric genius.

The original company is legendary for producing some of the most exclusive cars in the world, as well as some of the fastest. The original Bugatti brand failed with the coming of World War II, like many high-end marques of the time. The death of Ettore's son Jean was also a contributory factor. The company struggled financially, and released one last model in the 1950s, before eventually being purchased for its airplane parts business in the 1960s. Today the name is owned by Volkswagen Group who have revived it as a builder of very limited production exclusive sports cars.

News in 2009
In September of 2009, Bugatti introduced the 16C Galibier concept car, the first modern four-door Bugatti. The Galibier name is taken from the original designation for the four-door saloon model of the Type 57. As with all concept cars, the final version may differ from the initial preview, but it is expected to be powered the same 16 cylinder multi-fuel engine capable of speeds similar to (and with a pricetag in the range of) the Veyron. The W16 engine will use two superchargers, instead of the four turbochargers used on the Veyron.

Only a few examples of each of Ettore Bugatti's vehicles were ever produced, the most famous being the Type 35 Grand Prix cars, the "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" and the Type 55 sports car.

On 2 January 2009, it was revealed that a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante had been found in the garage of a deceased surgeon in England. Only 17 of this model were made, by hand.[1]

Throughout the production run of approximately 7,900 cars (of which about 2,000 still exist), each Bugatti model was designated with the prefix T for Type, which referred to the chassis and drive train.