Bugatti’s ‘La Voiture Noire’ GT Is The Most Expensive Road Car Ever

Bugatti is no shrinking violet when it comes to pricing its cars, but this is another level. Behold the new, one-off La Voiture Noire and its pre-tax price of €11 million – that’s £9.45 million, or $12.46 million. Plus tax.

The French company has named this ultra-special car in its own language but you don’t need to be Hercule Poirot to translate it to “The Black Car,” an overwhelmingly bland name in English but one that connotes a lot more about image and status in its native tongue.

Naturally, it’s based on the Chiron, but it takes heavy inspiration from Jean Bugatti’s own Type 57 SC Atlantic, which was held as the very finest of Bugatti’s touring models at the time. Jean was the son of company founder Ettore Bugatti and had a huge hand in the direction of the business through the late 1920s and 1930s, assuming a director’s post in 1936.

He died in 1939, aged just 30. He was testing a race-winning Type 57 that could pass 135mph, and at high speed hit a cyclist who shouldn’t have been there but had squeezed through a fence. Jean’s car spun and hit a tree. Only four Type 57 Atlantics were made between 1936 and 1938, placing the known remaining three – all customised differently – among the most valuable classic cars in existence.

The Voiture Noire’s carbonfibre panels have been created specially for this car only. Painted in deep gloss black, they are designed to create more of a visual flow than on the Chiron and make it look like it’s all cut from a single block.

The engine, on the other hand, is unchanged. You get a healthy 1479bhp from the legendary 8.0-litre W16 behind the two seats. Six exhausts are a clear statement of power and presence.

The one aspect we’re not sure about is the painted tyre effect, extending the silver blades of the two-tone wheels out over the rubber. We’re not sure it’s classy enough for a Bugatti of any breed, but we adore the huge, pale blue brake calipers visible behind the spokes.

So now we know what it costs to get Bugatti to make you a one-off hyper-GT. Time to ask for a promotion and a pay rise.