Bugatti

Bugatti is a French luxury boutique carmaker that specializes in supercars. Part of Volkswagen AG, Bugatti was relaunched in 1998 after the original company, Automobiles Ettore Bugatti, went bankrupt in the 1950s.

Prior to WW2, Bugatti was the choice of European aristocrats. Ettore Bugatti, an Italian entrepreneur that opened his company in the German Empire prior to WWI, eventually saw his company became French, then German, and French again as Alsace changed hands between the two European rivals. The height of Bugatti was during the period between the wars. Some of the most iconic models include the Type 35 Grand Prix, Type 57, and the Type 41 Royale.

The company suffered from difficulties in the European economy following the war as well as punitive tax regimes in France that discouraged cars of the caliber that Bugatti specialized in.

In the 1980s and 1990s, an Italian entrepreneur relaunched the brand with the EB110. The vehicle was certainly worthy of the Bugatti name, though the company experienced financial difficulties.

In 1998, VAG purchased the brand name. It has launched two model generations, the Veyron in 2005 and the Chiron in 2016.