Geneva Motor Show: A $19 Million Bugatti and Supercars.
A mock-up of Bugatti’s $19 million “Black Car” at the Geneva
International Motor Show, which is opening this week.
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GENEVA — The Geneva International Motor Show, getting underway this
week, never lacks star power, but a one-of-a-kind Bugatti is outshining the mere
supercar this year. “La Voiture Noire,” or “the Black Car,” was sold before
the show even opened for $19 million, reputed to be the highest price ever paid
for a new automobile.
“It
is one of one,” said Stephan Winkelmann, the chief executive of Bugatti, a
French brand long owned by Volkswagen. “There will never be another. I am
pleased to tell you that it has sold for 16.7 million euro.”
Pininfarina unveiled its first branded road car, the
1,900-horsepower Battista, named for its founder.
Was that price obscenely high?
Possibly, if one thinks of it as a car,
said its designer, Achim Anscheidt, “but perhaps not if one considers it as a
work of art.”
Certainly
other collectible, less exclusive Bugatti from the brand’s storied 110-year
past have sold for more; for a time, a Bugatti Royale, one of a handful ever
made, held the record for a price paid at auction. And vintage Ferrari have
sold for more than twice what the Black Car fetched. But this is a record for a
new car, Mr. Winkelman said.
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