A New Bugatti One-Off Is Coming This Week

It’s always a special day when a new Bugatti is unveiled; even more so when that Bugatti is an ultra-rare limited-run treat. A Bugatti of which only one will ever exist, though? They might be the most special days of all. Mark your calendars, then, for Thursday 7 August, for that’s when we’ll see the one-off car those bits of grille and carbon fibre above belong to.

That teaser picture is all we have so far of what’s set to be a new one-of-one car from the French manufacturer, so anything else at this point is pure guesswork. It’s pretty safe to assume that it’ll be based on existing Bugatti mechanicals, but which ones?

The company is currently winding down production of its big old quad-turbo unit of a W16 engine, and with all the emotional farewells it’s been giving that motor, we’d be surprised if it suddenly found its way into a new car. Our guess, then, is that we could be looking at the first spin-off of the new 8.3-litre, V16 hybrid Tourbillon.

The equally sparse press release accompanying the pics specifically namechecks the Type 57 SC Atlantic, the staggeringly rare, astoundingly beautiful coupe that many still regard as Bugatti’s magnum opus. Could it be something inspired by that, then? It wouldn’t be the first one-off Bugatti to reference the Atlantic – 2019’s Chiron-based La Voiture Noire was a nod to the one owned by founder Ettore’s son Jean Bugatti, which mysteriously vanished while being shipped out of occupied France in 1940.

Whatever we’re looking at here, it certainly won’t be the last one-off from Bugatti. Alongside the car, the company’s going to reveal “a new ultra-exclusive programme of one-of-one cars,” suggesting that it’s about to launch a new dedicated bespoke service in the same vein as Gordon Murray Automotive’s upcoming Special Vehicles division. We can practically hear the world’s ultra-wealthy rubbing their hands together with anticipation.