Speculator Seeks to Double Their Money on Rare Bugatti W16 Mistral
Could this be the most expensive and opportunistic flip ever? A Bugatti buyer is selling one of 99 W16 Mistral roadsters before it has even been built.
The build slot for the car is being offered for a mighty €8,539,000 ($9.3 million)—getting on for twice the $5.5 million original asking price. Listed on German website Mobile by House of Supercars the car should be completed some time during 2024. It’s not clear whether the Mistral’s specification has already been set or whether the person who pays the inflated price will be able to further customize the car.
The Mistral marks the end of Bugatti’s wonderful W-16 engine which made its debut in the Veyron. In the Mistral it’s in the same level of tune as the world-record-breaking Chiron Super Sport 300+ with 1600 horsepower from the eight-liter, quad-turbo motor. With its cabin open to the elements the Mistral won’t be able to match the 304.773 mph achieved by the Chiron Super Sport 300+, but still has its sights set on being the fastest roadster in the world. A top speed of 260 mph is potentially on the cards, says Bugatti.
The Mistral’s design is inspired by Bugattis of old and marks a key turning point in the company’s history. “W16 Mistral is a legacy of Bugatti roadsters, each of them incomparable in design, performance and rarity, which stretches right back to the genesis of Bugatti,” says Mate Rimac, Bugatti Rimac CEO. “The Type 40, Type 41 Royale, Type 55 Roadster, Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid that inspired this car, or even the incredible elegance of the Type 57SC Corsica Roadster – Bugatti has always been associated with the purity of open top driving. So even though the legacy of the roadgoing W16 ends with the W16 Mistral, we continue the legacy of the roadster, first established by Ettore Bugatti more than a century ago.”
The W16 Mistral will be the last of its kind as the next hypercar from Molsheim is set to be V-8 hybrid, making full use of the electrification expertise brought by its new CEO. All 99 examples sold immediately, but will anyone be willing to pay almost double to join the exclusive club of owners of the final Bugatti W16?
My lotto ticket that I did not buy did not pan out this week so I’ll have to pass. A fool and his money…?
The Official Vehicle of the UAE. Soon to be seen in London.
And we should care about this over-engineered, over-hyped toy for arbitragers that like all the latest “super” and “hyper” cars du jour depreciates faster than it accelerates because? Does this breathless public relations spiel change this silly situation? Much of such cars’ inflated price is to instill worth. In other words, charging ridiculous prices for such baubles for those with inflated, over-leveraged Monopoly money is just shrewd marketing.
But there’ll always be a contingent of car nerds who snarl that those of us seeing the above nonsense as we do are somehow “bitter” because we might not have the disposable money to own one. They miss the point in their gullibility. The ultra-rich do not require their moral support, and lauding their baubles does not make you one of them.