Bugatti La Voiture Noire
2019 (delivered 2021) · Bugatti La Voiture Noire — Hypercar, W16 Quad-Turbo, designed by Achim Anscheidt.
The Story
La Voiture Noire — ‘the black car’ — is Bugatti at its most operatic: a single, one-off coachbuilt grand tourer unveiled at Geneva in 2019 for the marque’s 110th anniversary, and for years the most expensive new car ever sold at €11 million net (~$18.7M with taxes). Under its seamless, all-black exposed-carbon body sit Chiron mechanicals — the 1,500 PS quad-turbo W16 — but everything you see is unique, hand-formed, six-tailpipe, drawn in a single line from nose to tail.
It is a deliberate homage to the most romantic ‘what-if’ in Bugatti history: Jean Bugatti’s personal Type 57SC Atlantic, the original ‘La Voiture Noire,’ which vanished during WWII and has never been found. The modern car is tribute and provocation at once — proof Bugatti could still build a true coachbuilt one-off in the 21st century.
For Studio Motors it is less a car than an artwork: untradeable in any conventional sense, and a marker for where the very top of the market now sits.
The Numbers
Benchmarked against its class
Each dial ranks this car within its Hypercar class — fuller means higher, and the tick marks the class midpoint.
Signature Colors
The Designer
Achim Anscheidt
Son of 50cc GP motorcycle world champion Hans-Georg Anscheidt; studied at Pforzheim University and ArtCenter College of Design; began at Porsche Design. Led Bugatti design for 19 years (2004–2023), shaping the entire Veyron/Chiron era. Sources: Bugatti newsroom; Robb Report.
Studio Motors POV
The clearest signal of where coachbuilding has returned to: a one-off that sells on story and singularity, not lap times. Cars like this are bought, not driven — and they define the ceiling of the modern market.
The Engine
Bugatti W16 (8.0 QT)
Lineage
Where it sits in the bloodline
Market & Value
Values on cars like this move monthly. Our brokers price from real transactions.
What Reviewers Said About La Voiture Noire
Worth Knowing About the La Voiture Noire
3 Things You Didn’t Know
- 1) Its namesake — Jean Bugatti's own Type 57SC Atlantic — disappeared in WWII and remains one of the great lost cars.
- 2) The body is a single expanse of exposed black carbon, with shutlines engineered to near-invisibility.
- 3) For years the buyer was a mystery wrongly pinned on Cristiano Ronaldo.
5 Fast Facts
- • One-off (1 of 1).
- • €11M net / ~$18.7M — most expensive new car ever at its 2019 reveal.
- • Chiron-based 8.0L quad-turbo W16, 1,500 PS.
- • Unveiled at Geneva 2019 for Bugatti's 110th anniversary.
- • Delivered in 2021, two years after its debut.
Provenance
Owners & what to look for
Famous Owners
Reported in 2026 to have been built for Ferdinand Piëch — the former Volkswagen Group chairman who resurrected Bugatti — though the buyer was never officially confirmed at delivery and was long, wrongly rumoured to be Cristiano Ronaldo. Piëch died in 2019; the finished car passed to his son, Anton Piëch, in 2021.
Studio Buyer’s Brief
Not applicable in the usual sense — it is a singular car. Provenance is everything: factory documentation, the 110th-anniversary commission history, and chain of ownership. Any sale is a private, broker-only affair (quietly offered around €25M).
Full Specifications
- Make / Model
- Bugatti La Voiture Noire
- Class
- Hypercar
- Production years
- 2019 (delivered 2021)
- Units built
- 1 (one-off)
- Variants
- Engine layout
- Mid
- Engine
- W16 Quad-Turbo
- Engine family
- Bugatti W16 (8.0 QT)
- Displacement
- 8.0 L (7,993 cc)
- Power
- 1479 hp
- Torque
- 1180 lb-ft
- 0–60 mph
- 2.4 s
- Top speed
- 261 mph
- Power-to-weight
- 741 hp/tonne · 3 lb/hp
- Transmission
- 7-speed dual-clutch (DSG)
- Drivetrain
- All-wheel drive · Petrol
- Curb weight
- 4400 lb
Questions
La Voiture Noire FAQ
Can you buy a Bugatti La Voiture Noire?
It is a one-off that sold for approximately 11M euros net, about $18.7M with tax, in 2019. Any future transaction would be a private, brokered sale with no public listing.
Why is the Bugatti called La Voiture Noire?
The name means ‘the black car’ in French. It references Jean Bugatti’s personal Type 57SC Atlantic, a black-painted coupe that vanished during World War II and has never been found.
Is the Bugatti La Voiture Noire a one-off?
Yes. It is a single coachbuilt grand tourer on the Chiron platform, unveiled at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show for Bugatti’s 110th anniversary. No second example was ever produced.
Was the La Voiture Noire the most expensive new car ever?
At its 2019 reveal, its approximately $18.7M price made it the most expensive new car ever sold. The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail later surpassed that record at an estimated £20M (about $28M).
The Bugatti Lineup
Explore every Bugatti
Type 55 ’32Type 57 ’34Type 57SC Atlantic ’36
Chiron ’16La Voiture Noire ’19
Divo ’20Centodieci ’22Bolide ’24W16 Mistral ’24Tourbillon ’26
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