Why Bugatti’s $26.8m La Voiture Noire is a sales driver

There’s little doubt Bugatti’s €16.7m ($A26.8m) La Voiture Noire was the most outrageous debutant at a Geneva motor show hardly lacking cars with mega wow factor.

The black Molsheim masterpiece set a new benchmark for being the world’s most expensive new car, but expect more of the same in the future from the hallowed French marque as it continues to tap the micro-niche for hyper-expensive, ultra-low-volume specials.

So says Bugatti designer Etienne Salomé, speaking to carsales.com.au at the Geneva show.

“When the Chiron launched at the end of 2016, it was at the top of the hierarchy in the industry with its performance capabilities and its price point ($3.3m),” says Salomé. “Then six months ago we launched the Bugatti Divo because we knew the Chiron was limited to only 500 units.

“With the Divo we aimed for an even more exclusive segment as it’s limited to only 40 units – all sold out – priced at €5m ($A8m). This was like redefining a pyramid on top of a pyramid. The Chiron is not the top of the top anymore when a car such as this exists,” he says.

But even the Divo is no longer at the apex of the pyramid with the reveal of La Voiture Noire (“The Black Car”), of which just a single example will be built and sold.

Says Salomé: “This year, at the Geneva motor show, to celebrate 110 years of Bugatti, as well as the 110th anniversary of Jean Bugatti (the son of company founder Ettore), we decided to take one of the Bugatti icons, which to me is the most important one of all – the Type 57SC Atlantic. The SC stood for “Surbaissé” (Lowered) and “Compresseur” (supercharged). Just imagine for 1938 a car that stood just 12cm off the tarmac and could do 220km/h. It was hyper-GT for its era. Its proportions were also super elegant.

“One car – out of four produced – belonged to the family and was the private car of Jean Bugatti himself. Only he was allowed to drive it, along with Bugatti’s Grand Prix drivers of the time. We have the chassis number, which is 57453, but when France was occupied in the Second World War, the car drove away from the factory and never reached its destination of Bordeaux. We do not know where the car is.

“So, this car adds to the mystique of Bugatti, and we now take the spirit of that car and have reimagined it for La Voiture Noire because Jean Bugatti’s car was also completely in black. However, it is not a retro car. It’s a true modern-day Bugatti, but with the spirit of Jean Bugatti’s car.”

La Voiture Noire’s stratospheric price tag makes it the world’s most expensive new car, but this isn’t merely a case of shameless profiteering by Bugatti, as Salomé says all the development costs had to be recouped in just one vehicle.

“This car underlines the fact only Bugatti can sell a car costing €16.7m… tell me another brand that can do it,” he challenges. “It opens new doors.”

The dapper designer says La Voiture Noire’s uniqueness comes partly from its “materiality”, which in this case is black tinted carbon for its sinister bodywork. Another tribute to the Type 57SC Atlantic is the centre line that runs all the way from the horseshoe grille at the front to the tail, effectively making the windscreen appear like a visor.

“This line gives the car more visual length,” explains Salomé. “It’s still a rear-mid-engined car with 1500hp (1103kW) and 1600Nm, but it has classic GT proportions”. To this end, the front overhang has also been lengthened vis-à-vis the Chiron to make LVN appear more of a GT than a hypercar.

“This car is not meant to look like something that’s designed to go on the racetrack. But if I were to imagine going on a road trip through the hills of Tuscany, I cannot think of a better car to do it in,” he says.

The upper-rear section of the car is distinguished by micro-perforations in the carbon-fibre engine cover, and Salomé says this is for two reasons. The first is to create a visual link with the Type 57SC Atlantic, which was largely enclosed at the rear, apart from two small windows, and the second is to extract heat from an engine bay stuffed with a 16-cylinder motor and four turbochargers. The LVN’s six rocket-launcher-mimicking exhausts are also a nod to the Atlantic.

“When it comes to design, I say it’s finished when there’s nothing left to take out,” says Salomé. “The end result should look like it’s been sculpted from one single piece of marble. Every element perfectly integrated with each other. I’m more of an artist and less of a designer, and this car is essentially an art piece. It’s a return to coachbuilding.”

Despite its highly bespoke appearance, Salomé says La Voiture Noire has the same hardpoints as the Chiron and carries across elements such as the windows and structural panels due to packaging constraints and to meet all safety legislative requirements.

According to Salomé, the interior of the car is yet to be finalised, and the there is still work to be done on the exterior to ensure all cooling and aero requirements are met for the 420km/h-plus rocket ship. This means its owner-to-be will only receive the car in April, 2021.

Taking a pointed jab at bespoke Ferraris commissioned by the likes of James Glickenhaus and Eric Clapton, who issued a specific brief for their cars, Salomé insists Bugatti retained design autonomy for La Voiture Noire.

“When we designed this car, we were obviously in contact with our clients but, in the end, this car is designed by us. We decide how the car should look, and do not take from clients any ideas about how it should look.”