The Brouillard will cost significantly more than the £5 million Mistral on which it is based, because it still requires the same amount of design and homologation work as a series car.
Heyl said: “The investment is almost the same if we make 10, 100 or one. You still have to engineer it, you still have to tool it, you still have to test it – so the investment is significant, and if you have only one vehicle to return that investment, the price is accordingly high.”
That means the Brouillard is likely to edge the £11.3m La Voiture Noire as the most expensive Bugatti yet. When asked for confirmation, Heyl said: “Possibly.”
Q&A Frank Heyl, director of design, Bugatti-Rimac
How far can Solitaire go?
“The programme gives customers the opportunity to create a geometrically different one-of-one vehicle based on the platform. And if you think about it, it also has a value, because as a one-of-one, it’s incomparable – and this is another value of Ettore Bugatti: ‘If comparable, it is no longer Bugatti’. Solitaire is incomparable, and so it fits into our spectrum of businesses.”
How will you avoid devaluing the series cars?
“Supply and demand is relevant. We sold out Tourbillon in a matter of weeks – 250 units. We could have sold more, but we chose not to. And this is the same: we could have said ‘let’s make three’, but we said ‘no, it’s a one off’, because a one-off is the highest value you can create in these things.”
What if a customer asks for an SUV?
“I would ask myself if they’re the right customer for it, because we do cars that are 1.1 metres high, two seats and rear-mid-engined. So very far away from any kind of SUV.”