Bugatti was an Italian immigrant who lived in France. Ok. They made cars, raced a bit. War broke out. He made airplane parts. The company lost money, stopped operations. It was relocated to Italy later on, stopped production. It was bought by VW and now makes street cars. What ties are there to France?

There has been nothing French about it, since before the '50's. Right?

Please educate me.

 

The company is headquartered in France. The Nissan Titan was designed by Americans, and is manufactured in the U.S. But you don't call it an American truck do you? And Bugatti's are still made in France, despite their VW ownership.

 

I didn't know that their HQ is still located in France... I thought it was moved to Italy.

Thanks! Do you know what city?

 

Château Saint Jean

http://www.bugatti.com/en/tradition/...m/atelier.html

 

Molsheim of course, car maniacs should know mate!




In 1998, Volkswagen AG acquired the Bugatti brand.
It was soon decided that the next generation of the legendary cars could only be produced
at Molsheim in Alsace, which had been home to the Bugatti brand from the very beginning.
Yet the Bugatti story comprises only a part of Molsheim’s impressive heritage. For many
years during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation the bishops or the archdiocese of
Strasbourg resided in the small Alsatian town. And it was once home to a famous Jesuit
university, which later relocated to the larger neighboring town.
Today’s manufacturing plant covers only a small part of the original area, where up to 1200
workers used to assemble the classic Bugatti models. The administration offices are housed
in the renovated Château Saint Jean, and the Veyron 16.4 is assembled in the newly built,
oval studio. A simple storage building and the two reconstructed coach houses complete
the facility. The orangery and the old factory gate remain unaltered, original witnesses to
the era of Ettore Bugatti.
It was here in Molsheim that the Italian automobile pioneer founded his legendary Bugatti
car manufacturing plant. It was here that he celebrated the racing victories of his cars
and evolved from a respected businessman to a living legend. And it was here that the
story of one of the world’s greatest automobile brands came to an end – or rather, a
temporary halt. For the tradition of ingenious engineering coupled with high aesthetic
standards that began with Ettore Bugatti has now resumed with the start of production in 2005.

 

The Bugatti's are assembled in France but I believe most parts are manufactured in Germany.

 

Like most parts of Fords are manufactured in Mexico, but assembled in the U.S.?

 

Not true.
Bugatti's are engineered and designed at the Molsheim factory. All parts are made in house and NOTHING is coming from VW or other manufacturer, that's why they are so expensive.
The new factory is true to the heritage down to the location (actually in Dorlisheim). It's located on the property of a beautiful castle and the factory itself is very small. Well worth taking a tour if you can.
My grand father was a mechanic for Bugatti for their racing division. He was a personal friend with Ettore and specially his son Jean Bugatti who was killed test driving one of their car (type 57) at only 30 years old.
Ettore 's is buried in Dorlisheim in France.

 

I thought I read somewhere that the transmission was designed by Ricardo? And surely the engine is a VW design. The whole W-config. thing is VW, no?

 

the bugatti project was re-born and funded by the VW automotive group and so they kept the heritage by designing and building the cars in france where the company originated from

 

Raced a bit?

won 24 hours of lemans two years in row.

created what is statistically the most successful race car ever in the type 35.

The type 35 alone won 1000 races and a the grand prix world championship as well as the targa florio rally 5 years in a row.

double overhead cam 4 valve per cylinder engines....in the 30s!!

 

Sure, I oversimplified, but you got my point.

 

Oversimplified??

I work for a US company in the US but my boss is British, does it make my company British? I don't think so.
Was the same for Bugatti. Ettore was the owner but it was a French company with French employees, my grand'pa being one of them.
BTW Bugatti (the company) was never located in Italy.

 

The EB110 wasn't designed and produced in a factory in Campogalliano, Italy?

I'm aware of the whole ownership doesn't make a company that nationality (or we would call GM - Chinese imports).

 

Correct. They designed and build the transmission. Ricardo released a great newsletter all about it, type 'ricardo build veyron' into Google. It's too big to load on here.

Almost all parts for the car were designed specifically for the Veyron, but most are of course built by external suppliers. A list of some of them is on the attached .pdf. This list is just a fraction, since the wheels/brakes/windscreen etc are all out-sourced. It's clearly not like Bugatti have a glass-float plant, or a wheel-forging line, or a ceramic brake production factory all hidden inside their tiny chateau. Basically they just have a small assembly plant.