BUGATTI LA VOITURE NOIRE IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE NEW CAR EVER

This stunning Bugatti, named La Voiture Noire, is a tribute to the lost Atlantic – and also the most expensive new car ever sold.

Rumours of this cars existence have been doing the rounds for a while but nobody was entirely sure it would see the light. Until now, at it's reveal at the Geneva Motor Show. The Bugatti La Voiture Noire is a "modern interpretation of Jean Bugatti’s personal Type 57 SC Atlantic that got lost during World War II", says the manufacturer, who also claims that it's the most expensive new car ever sold.

And they're not kidding judging by comments by Bugatti president, Stephan Winkelmann, who said the car was sold for €16.5 million ($18.68M) including taxes. That's something ridiculous like 280 million South African rands... before import duty.

This super-exclusive one-of-one grand tourer shares the Bugatti Divo's W16 8.0-litre quad-turbo engine with those mind-bending outputs of 1,500 horsepower and 1,600 Newton-meters but the La Voiture Noire features a unique, handcrafted carbon fibre body.

The La Voiture Noire is undoubtedly a Bugatti but it sports novel items such as six exhaust tips and a full-width LED brake light strip sitting atop an illuminated “Bugatti” badge. The svelte LED headlights that now stretch over the front wheel arches and slightly behind the pronounced horseshoe grill while the smooth, bespoke flanks make the car appear longer and wider.

The Bugatti was bought by an enthusiast who is “fascinated” by the original Atlantic so, although we can't see inside, we suspect the interior is as bespoke as the outside.

Stephan Winkelmann, Bugatti president, said: "Bugatti arouses passion and emotions throughout the world. Customers expect us to continually surprise them and to raise the goalposts beyond the limits of their imagination. We have just succeeded in doing so with ‘La Voiture Noire’.

“Our history is both a privilege and a responsibility – the responsibility for continuing the Bugatti heritage into the future. With ‘La Voiture Noire’, we are paying homage to our heritage and bringing speed, technology, luxury and aesthetics forward to a new era.”

Maybe one day we'll actually get to see it in the flesh.