Bugatti has unveiled the world's most expensive new car, sold to an unnamed buyer for at least $11 million (€9.72 million) before tax.
La Voiture Noire – The Black Car – was built to celebrate the French supercar maker’s 110th anniversary. The buyer is thought to be Ferdinand Piech, the grandson of the founder of Porsche.
The exact price is not being revealed, but is thought to have overtaken the previous new car record - about £9 million (€9.31 million) for a Rolls-Royce Sweptail.
Mr Piech is a former chief executive of Volkswagen, which owns Bugatti. While he was CEO of Volkswagen, he had a reputation for backing some of the group's most expensive development projects.
However, Bugatti would only say that the purchaser was "an enthusiast of the brand.”
Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann said the car combined "extraordinary technology, aesthetics and extreme luxury.”
“The new hyper sports car reflects Bugatti’s French heritage and its French identity – elegance through minimalism and refinement through intensification. This is a tailor-made creation only comparable with the haute couture of exclusive Paris fashion designers.”
La Voiture Noir has a jet-black carbon fibre body and a 1,500 horsepower 16-cylinder engine. Bugatti said it paid homage to its Type 57 SC Atlantic. Just four were made between 1936 and 1938, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren is the owner of the last Atlantic produced.
