Market Intelligence
Hypercar chapter 2: Bugatti EB 110 versus McLaren F1. What a match!
The Bugatti EB110 was a high-performance car built in the early 1990s, owned by Italian businessman Romano Artioli. It boasted a 3,500cc engine with four IHI turbochargers, delivering 560 BHP and a top speed of 342 km/h. Despite its impressive specs, only 123 units were produced before the Campogalliano plant closed in 1995. However, in recent years, the EB110 has become a highly sought-after collector's item, with some models selling for over $1 million at auctions. The McLaren F1, which held the record for the world's fastest production car for over a decade, is also considered a holy grail of car collecting, with some examples selling for tens of millions of dollars.
If, at the end of the 1980s, you were a wealthy Arab oil producer or a New York stock exchange trader, would never have accepted the fact that your neighbour drove a car not necessarily better but at least comparable to yours, would you? Never! You wanted more.
Romano Artioli is a man from that era: The Suzuki importer for Italy, he ran the most important European Ferrari dealer in Germany. His passion, however, was Bugatti and so it was that he decided to give himself a gift: he bought the brand that had remained silent after the fruitless attempt to relaunch it immediately after the war.
1991 marked 110 years since the birth of Ettore Bugatti and Artioli promised that on that day, the car he had designed (called EB110 for this very reason) would have been ready. It was. On 14th September, it was presented at a magnificent party in Paris.
