Bugatti La Voiture Noire

La Voiture Noire at a glance

The name means "the black car" in French. The premiere marked the 110th anniversary of the company, which Ettore Bugatti founded in 1909, and Bugatti used the occasion to link its modern hypercars with its most famous pre-war design. Bugatti created the car as a tribute to the Type 57 SC Atlantic, a 1930s coupé of which only four were built. Jean Bugatti, son of the company's founder Ettore Bugatti, developed and drove one of them and called it "La Voiture Noire". That car vanished before the Second World War and has never been found, which Bugatti describes as one of the great mysteries of automotive history. The brand's story is told in the history of Bugatti, and all its models are in the Bugatti catalogue.

Carbon body by Etienne Salomé

The body was designed by Bugatti's Etienne Salomé and is made entirely of hand-crafted carbon fibre in a deep black finish. Compared with the Chiron, the nose is elongated, similar to the Bugatti Divo, and the rear section is stretched. A "floating" windscreen with concealed A-pillars gives the impression of a single glass surface flowing into the bodywork, a reference to the Atlantic's streamlined shape.

According to the old 1cars text, the front has a large horseshoe grille flanked by two side grilles that cool the engine bay and brakes, and the headlights are mounted on raised sections above the front wheel arches. At the rear, a full-width light strip sits above a large diffuser containing six exhaust tailpipes, one of the car's most recognisable details.

What Bugatti said

Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann described the car as "a collection of superlatives" and said that for Bugatti, La Voiture Noire is "more than just a reminiscence of the Atlantic". The car was one of two world premieres Bugatti presented in Geneva for its 110th anniversary.

Havana Brown cabin

At the 2019 premiere the windows were tinted so heavily that the interior could not be seen. The finished production car has an interior in Havana Brown leather. The show car was a non-running concept fitted with electric motors instead of the engine; the production version has a fully functional W16 drivetrain.

Chiron W16 and drivetrain

The La Voiture Noire uses the same 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged W16 as the Bugatti Chiron, with the same 1,103 kW. Its seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and all-wheel-drive system were extensively revised for a more relaxed driving character. Bugatti did not publish acceleration or top-speed figures and indicated that the car is likely to be slower than the Chiron.

Show car versus finished car

Price and owner

At its premiere Bugatti announced a price of €11 million net, which it described as the most expensive new car in the world, and said that the car had already been sold. It was commissioned by Ferdinand Piëch, the former head of the Volkswagen Group, who died in 2019 before it was completed; the Exclusive Car Registry reports that the car is owned by a member of the Piëch family. At the Geneva show, Bugatti said the production car would take about two and a half more years to finish.

The old 1cars text repeated reports at the time that the buyer was a famous footballer; these reports were not confirmed, and the commissioning by Ferdinand Piëch is the version given by the reference sources.

From the Atlantic to the finished car

Bugatti's modern specials

The La Voiture Noire is part of a series of special Bugattis based on the Chiron's mechanicals. The Divo of 2018 focused on handling, and the Bugatti Centodieci of 2019 paid tribute to the EB110. Among them, the La Voiture Noire is the only one built as a single car. Its predecessor in spirit is the original Bugatti Atlantic, and our list of the world's most luxurious cars explains how the car overtook the Rolls-Royce Sweptail as the most expensive new car.