Behind the scenes of the first Bugatti La Voiture Noire prototype

The one-off Bugatti La Voiture Noire was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, but there’s a secret behind the first Bugatti prototype that some people never knew about.

There was also a lot of fanfare surrounding the launch, mostly because no one had any idea what it was going to be.

After the unveiling, we learned that it was a one-off Bugatti, and we knew where the inspiration came from.

But there’s something about the actual Bugatti prototype that most people might still not know to this day.

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A little-known fact about the Bugatti La Voiture Noire prototype

The La Voiture Noire was unveiled on stage by the then CEO of the marque, Stephan Winkelmann.

It wasn’t known at the time, but the vehicle we saw at the – now-defunct – Geneva Motor Show was little more than an empty shell.

The Bugatti prototype looked exactly like the final production version when it came to the exterior. But it had an incomplete chassis and no powertrain.

Some outlets even claimed the car didn’t even have an interior. Although that’s probably at least partially inaccurate because the prototype had a driver seat and also a steering wheel.

Then again, the car was unveiled in 2019 but only registered in 2022, which means they had plenty of time to finish the job.

The most expensive new car in the world, but no one knows who bought it

Inspired by the iconic Type 57 SC Atlantic and based on the Chiron, the one-off Bugatti La Voiture Noire was the most expensive new supercar in the world when it came out.

The thing is, no one actually knows what it cost.

Different reports quote different price tags, ranging from $10 to $20 million.

The assumption was that the actual price tag was around $18 million.

The fact that it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, in Europe, and built by a European company made things even more confusing.

That’s down to several outlets having misreported the price, quoting dollars as euros or vice versa, without conversion.

We also don’t know who owns it.

A number of newspapers and blogs spread claims that Cristiano Ronaldo – who also owns a Centodiec – had bought it.

This was apparently denied by a spokesperson for Ronaldo.

What we do know is that the car is registered in Switzerland. And, surprisingly, the owner apparently drives it quite regularly, as it was also spotted in Croatia.

Good for them.