Bugatti Tribute

Bugatti is one of the fastest marques of automobile and one of the most exclusive French car producers of all time. Founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded in Molsheim, a town in the Alsace region, which was then a part of the German Empire. The company is legendary for producing some of the best sports cars in the world. Like many high-end marques, the original Bugatti failed with the coming of World War II.

The company attempted a comeback under Roland Bugatti in the mid-1950s with the mid-engined Type 251 race car. Designed with help from famed Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Maserati designer Gioacchino Colombo, the car failed to perform to expectations and the company's attempts at automobile production were halted.

In the 1960s, Virgil Exner designed a Bugatti as part of his "Revival Cars" project. A show version of this car was actually built by Ghia using the last Bugatti Type 101 chassis and was shown at the 1965 Turin Motor Show. Finance was not forthcoming and Exner then turned his attention to a revival of Stutz.

Volkswagen AG purchased the rights to produce cars under the Bugatti marque in 1998. They commissioned ItalDesign to produce the Bugatti EB118 concept, a touring sedan which featured a 555 hp DIN (408 kW) output and the first W-configuration 18-cylinder engine in any passenger vehicle, at the Paris Auto Show.

In 1999 the Bugatti EB 218 concept was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show; later that year the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron was introduced at the IAA in Frankfurt. At the Tokyo Motor Show the EB 218 reappeared and the Bugatti EB 18/4 Veyron was presented as the first incarnation of what was to be a production road car.

In 2000 Volkswagen founded Bugatti Automobiles SAS and introduced the EB 16/4 Veyron concept, a 16-cylinder car with 1001 hp DIN (736 kW), at the Paris, Geneva and Detroit auto shows. The Veyron finally entered production in late 2005, delivery will start in early 2006. Maximum speed claims have been met in several high speed tests where the car slightly exceeded its target, reaching 252 mph (407.5 km/h)(Mach 0.3) and holding it for about two minutes.

// Extracted from Wikipedia (see full text clicking here)//