You might remember Bugatti's custom hypercar La Voiture Noire, which officially became the most expensive new car ever sold after its sale for $18.68 million to an anonymous buyer. The car is back in the news now, following its American debut at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance event in California.
CNBC reports that while La Voiture Noire saw its official debut back in March and was recently being displayed stateside, it will take another two and a half years for the one-of-a-kind piece to be finished and ready for delivery. As Bugatti's design director Achim Anscheidt put it:
"We produced a true one-off, a single unit car that we call automotive haute couture…It's not just a car anymore, it's really more like a piece of art in line with the highly exclusive fashion and luxury brands in France."
As pieces of art go, the "Black Car" is pretty fast, with a reported top speed of 261 miles per hour. But Tim Bravo, another spokesman for Bugatti, says that speed was not a top priority for this particular model:
"High-speed mode was not relevant for these cars because they had a much different focus. The Divo is made for corners and La Voiture Noire is a Grand Turismo."
Bravo also had a few words about the identity of the buyer:
"As soon as a customer makes a public claim, then we can refer to that, but other than that we will honor a customer's anonymity and he will decide whether or not he wants to remain anonymous."
Whoever the car's lucky owner is (once rumored to be Cristiano Ronaldo), he is reportedly being given full creative freedom over the interior of the car, which hasn't even been completed yet – that being the reason for its blacked-out windows at its debut at the Geneva International Motor Show. Anscheidt says that the company approached this person with nothing more than a few sketches and an overall concept for the car, and that it was purchased immediately after, with some details yet to be ironed out:
"The idea of La Voiture Noire was 100% born within Bugatti, it doesn't come from the customer. However, with it being a one of one, the customer enjoys the freedom to create specific detailing with us…As to the interior, we wanted to make sure the customer that decided to buy that car could really create the interior to his own gusto. So, our designers are working hand in hand with the customer to make that interior just 100% like he wants."
La Voiture Noire is part of a whole trend towards unique, custom-built hypercars being built by Bugatti and other top-tier automotive brands, with another custom car set to be revealed sometime later this year. For now, you can check out the car making its American debut in the video below from RVing with Andrew Steele:
