THE GOOD LIFE Motoring


Bugatti is back, taking


chances other marques wouldn’t contemplate.


Iain Macauley meets the man behind the dream


N


ear a fairly anonymous roundabout on the D392, close to Molsheim in north-eastern France, there is a sign with a tiny Bugatti logo. Its purpose is to direct visitors to the factory that serves as the beating heart of this


extravagant supercar marque par excellence, but it could easily be overlooked. It’s certainly a discreet entrée to a carmaker whose products are anything but. I am here, 20 minutes’ drive from Strasbourg, to inter-


view Mate Rimac, the firm’s 37-year-old CEO. But first I must pass through a security checkpoint, where my pass- port is to be retained for the duration of my visit. I’m also told to keep my phone firmly in my pocket, perhaps to prevent me snapping any unauthorised pictures of parts of Bugatti’s ‘Programme Solitaire’ one-off coachbuilt cars. The first of these, a Brouillard coupe, is rumoured to be priced at $30 million and is still very much under wraps at the time of my visit. Next I pass a 19th-century château that serves as the company’s museum, before moving on to the factory, which, on the outside at least, resembles a large converted barn. The interview has been arranged to discuss the launch


of Bugatti’s new €4 million V16 Tourbillon. Significantly, it is the company’s first hypercar not to feature legacy parts or thinking from former owner Volkswagen Group. But Rimac is relaxed: all 250 units in the original production run have already been spoken for, with first deliveries to be made some time in 2026. Bugatti was founded in 1909 and began to earn a reputa- tion with cars such as the Type 35, Type 57 SC Atlantic and Type 41 Royale, which defined the early years of the brand and established the commitment of founder Ettore Bugatti to creating extraordinary, no-compromise cars. That in- cluded racers, tourers and limousines which matched the likes of Rolls-Royce. However, following the death of the founder in 1947, the company ceased production in the early 1950s and entered a period of inactivity. It was revived in the late 1980s by short-term Bugatti


brand owner Romano Artioli, who brought back both the name and the ethos with the 535bhp, 200mph V12 EB110 in the 1990s. That attracted Volkswagen’s attention and,


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