Bugatti

From Wikicompany

Bugatti is one of the most celebrated brands of automobiles and the one of the most exclusive Italian yet also French car producers of all time.

Bugatti is legendary for producing some of the best sports cars money could buy. The original Bugatti failed with the advent of World War II, but has been resurrected twice, most recently under the Volkswagen Group.

Bugatti under Volkswagen

Volkswagen AG purchased the rights to produce cars under the Bugatti brand in 1998. They commissioned Italdesign to produce the Bugatti EB 118 concept, a touring sedan which featured a 555 bhp DIN (408 kW) output and the first W-configuration 18-cylinder engine on any passenger vehicle, at the Paris Auto Show.

In 1999 the Bugatti EB 218 concept was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show; later that year the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron was introduced at the IAA in Frankfurt. At the Tokyo Motor Show the EB 218 reappeared and the Bugatti EB 18/4 Veyron was presented as the first incarnation of what was to be a production road car. All had eighteen cylinders.

In 2000 Volkswagen founded Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. and introduced the EB 16/4 Veyron concept, a 16 cylinder car producing 1001 bhp DIN (736 kW), at the Paris, Geneva, and Detroit auto shows. Development continued throughout 2001 and the EB 16/4 Veyron was promoted to "advanced concept" status.

In late 2001 Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. announced that the car, officially called the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, would go into production in 2003. As of September 2004, the Veyron is expected to be released in the second half of 2005. It will be produced in a new facility, the Atelier located near the historical roots of the brand, the Château Saint-Jean in Molsheim.

It is expected that following the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, in 2009, Bugatti will produce a smaller front-engined 2+2, of about 100,000 EUR, called the Wimille, after Jean-Pierre Wimille. The Wimille would also be produced in Molsheim.