Gallery: Bugatti’s limited-edition Veyrons and Chirons

You'll be well aware that, under its current ownership, Bugatti isn't afraid to wheel out the 'limited-edition' tag. And to be honest, we don't blame them. The one thing that can make the world's most exclusive objects just that little bit more desirable (for those who can afford them) is just a little bit more exclusivity.

What follows in this gallery then is a run-through of the ultra-special editions from Bugatti's modern era. At least the ones we know about. For starters, though, let's kick off with the standard-variety, battery-farmed Bugatti Veyron. And it’s all about the numbers. We’re talking an 8.0-litre, W16 engine packing 1,001hp and 921lb ft of torque.

0-62mph took 2.5 seconds, 0-124mph 7.3 seconds, 0-186mph 16.7 seconds and the top speed was, of course, 253mph. All in a package weighing 1,888kg.

Click on for more, but be warned - lots of the cars beyond this page are truly very special indeed...

You’d better have cast-iron stones to steal Lamborghini’s thunder at a motor show. Luckily, Bugatti rocked up with one very precious stone: the limited-to-five-models Pur Sang edition.

Unveiled at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show and translated as ‘pure blood’, nothing changed mechanically barring a 100kg weight reduction. It's finished in raw aluminium and carbon fibre: basically, sans paint. Quite stunning, really.

Apparently, Ettore Bugatti and Emile Hermes met in the 1920s; Ettore wanted a bespoke suitcase for his Royale. Eighty years later at the 2008 Geneva motor show, the two names met in the Hermes edition.

What you’re looking at is a two-tone paint job - with the hood colour extending to the interior cockpit - eight-spoke alloys in polished aluminium, wheel locks branded with the Hermes ‘H’, interior air vents with Hermes’ saddle-stitching, a radiator grille with interlocking H motifs, and an interior finished in bull calfskin. You even got a Hermes wallet and leather case thrown in. A bargain at €1.55m a pop.

Again, no mechanical changes here (would you complain with a thousand brake?), just a cosmetics job. The Sang Noir was dedicated to the original Bugatti Atlantique of the 30s. It featured an all-black exterior with unpainted carbon fibre panels, aluminium side mirrors and a tan coloured interior. Just 15 were built, apparently.

Built as a 100th year birthday present to the company, the Centenaire was, surprisingly, blue. It sported the “most known light shaded Bugatti blue”, covering the outside (two-tone) and parts of the engine, while the roof-trim stripes and mirrors were polished aluminium.

Inside there was ‘snow beige’ leather with quilting on the seats, LED lights and park distance control. Because you’re worth it.

Strangely enough, Bugatti sold lots of Veyrons to customers in the Middle East. We know right? In December 2009 it decided to honour this with three different special editions, of which only five would be made in total. The Sang d'Argent (pictured) was the shiniest, but all three featured polished aluminium and mega price tags.

Presumably fed up of being the purveyor of the world’s most famous fast car, Bugatti turned its considerable nous to the roadster market. So when the production run of 300 Veyron coupes was spoken for, the company turned up to Pebble Beach in 2008 with a new model: the Grand Sport.

At the time it was the fastest roadster in this and many other galaxies, and featured a higher windscreen, stylised daytime running lights, and a lightweight, transparent polycarbonate roof.

Because the roof was chopped, Bugatti reinforced the monocoque structure round the side skirts and transmission tunnel, stiffened the B-pillars with carbon fibre supports and positioned a central carbon plate underneath the gearbox. The doors were of the carbon fibre variety, and the leather was moisture-resistant. We’ll let your imagination laugh its way out of that one.

Roof up, the GS could hit 253mph, and with it down, would top 224mph. In fact, should a troublesome spot of rain attack your scalp, you could open up an “innovative folding roof” like an umbrella at any time. With that in place, you’d be able to hit 80mph.

Of course, the Grand Sport wouldn't avoid the special edition treatment either...

Apparently Mr Bugatti used to love experimenting with materials, somewhat explaining the sheer number of special edition models available. This one-off was mechanically identical to the standard Grand Sport, but featured blue carbon fibre and polished aluminium. 

This is the Veyron Red Edition. Can you guess what they might’ve done? Well if you can’t, we’ll help you out. They painted it red. And then they made the interior red. And then they painted the wheels red. Then they showed it off at the Frankfurt Motor Show where everyone said, “Woah! That’s red!”… apart from colour blind people, who said, “Woah! That’s blue!”

White Gold was the theme here. That’s what ‘L’Or Blanc’ means, a suffix attached to the one-off porcelain Veyron. Bugatti reckoned it was the first car in the world to wear porcelain inside and out. The wheel centres, fuel and oil filler caps, EB badge on the rear, centre console surround and rear interior centre trim were all finished in china.

There’s only one in the world. And it cost £1.48m.

Three different ‘Middle East Edition’ Grand Sports were unveiled at the 2011 Dubai motor show. The best one was this, what us here at Top Gear call: the YELLOW ONE. It was so yellow it burnt your eyes, and the interior was upholstered from the recently-plucked hide of Big Bird from Sesame Street.

The Arctic White side panels of this Veyron were contrasted by - you guessed it - Royal Dark Blue rear and bonnet sections. Looks pretty tidy doesn't it? You'd hope so though considering it was bought for €1.75m...

And here it is, the artiest Veyron so far in this gallery: the Grand Sport Venet. It was the first Bugatti Veyron art car and the work of French sculptor Bernar Venet. What he created was the fastest, most powerful and exceedingly expensive way to remember your science and maths homework.

Venet went for a two-tone design that celebrated the Veyron’s mind-bending physics, by wrapping the car with mathematical and scientific formulas for power and speed. Definitely beats those revision flash cards.

At the 2011 Shanghai Motor Show, Bugatti showed off the Matte White Blue Carbon. Which you’ve probably guessed, had matte white paint and blue carbon bits. That theme followed through to the inside, it was decked out with blue leather along with white stitching on the seats, steering wheel and gear lever and an aluminum console. It complements a banana’s pyjamas perfectly.

Bijan Pakzad was a man who liked to dress well… and go fast. Before he passed away the Iranian born fashion designer designed his own Veyron.

Known for owning cars with extravagant colour pallets, he did the same for his Veyron. Yellow and chrome were the colours of choice and he even signed his name under the rear wing and put a bearded man on the front. It’s fashion, darhhhling.

Ah yes, now we can turn our attention to the black and orange instrument of thunder and destruction known as the Super Sport. For once, it was actually a faster version of the garden-variety Veyron - and it was technically a limited-run car as only 30 were made.

It got larger turbochargers and bigger intercoolers to boost power from that venomous 8.0-litre engine to 1,184bhp, and the chassis was tweaked with a raised main spring travel, stronger stabilisers, new shock absorbers and a skin made entirely of carbon fibre composites.

Two NACA ducts on the roof fed new air into the engine, whilst the front intakes were also enlarged and reshaped. The result? A top speed of almost 268mph.

And of course, many special editions of this special edition were to follow...

A man in China called Simon turned 40, so Bugatti thought a special edition Super Sport was the way to celebrate this landmark. No, really. We don’t know much about Simon apart from the fact he was already an owner of a Veyron, and Bugatti liked him enough to build a one-off, bare carbon fibre, bright blue interior, blacked alloy wheeled Super Sport ‘Edition Merveilleux’. After all, what Simon says, goes.

The ‘Black Carbon’ was also built for a person in China (we’re not sure if their name is also Simon). Predictably, the car is black carbon fibre wrapped around the faster Super Sport. There’s also very cool anodized aluminium details around the car and inside there’s ‘Snow Beige’ leather to contrast the black.

Correctly, Bugatti identified that its Grand Sport clientele wanted the power of the Super Sport with the glamour and magic of a roadster. Enter the Grand Sport Vitesse.

1,184bhp, 1,105lb ft of torque and, at the time, the world’s fastest and most powerful convertible in the history of our species. It’s safe to say humanity can give Bugatti engineers a hearty slap on the back.

To which they’ll simply and politely nod, “danke”.

Ah, the lovely Jean-Pierre Wimille edition. Wimille was one of the longest serving test drivers at Bugatti, and brought home a number of race wins including the company’s last ever one: the 1947 Bois de Boulogne, where he drove a 4.7-litre Monoposto (single seater) Type 59/50B. He also notched up two victories in Le Mans: one in 1937 and one in 1939.

So, what did they do to this Veyron GSV? Painted it light blue and layered it with clear-coated carbon fibre in honour of Wimille’s blue 57G. Just three were built, each costing over £2m. Lovely.

Ettore Bugatti’s eldest son Jean was the creater of the rather stunning 57SC Atlantic, which this car loosely referenced.

Again, there were no mechanical changes underneath, but you got platinium Bugatti horseshoe logos, clear-coated carbon fibre bodywork, black wheels with diamond cut edging, and Jean’s signature lasered onto the petrol and oil caps.

Inside, the 57SC Atlantic’s profile was embroidered on the door cards, and the colour scheme was a fetching beige and brown in keeping with that original car’s history. There was also a rosewood gearstick. Nice.

Meo was a good friend of Ettore Bugatti, who headed up the factory race team for many years and even drove the Bugatti Type 35 to two Targa Florio victories in 1925 and 1926.

And as such, he got a special edition Grand Sport Vitesse too. There was a carbon fibre body, with aluminium wings, doors and corners of the front bumpers. It was blue - because blue is the classic French motorsport colour - with the silhouette of the Targa Florio race course painted on the underside of the rear air brake in homage to Meo’s double victory there. A little classier than super-gluing a Nürburgring sticker on the back of your ratty MX-5. There was also chrome. Lots of chrome.

Inside, there was a blue-and-cognac colour scheme, blue stitching and Meo’s signature embroided into the headrests. Just three were made, each costing around £2.1m.

While Ettore was messing around in the garage, his brother Rembrandt was hanging around Antwerp Zoo, where he sculpted exotic animals like elephants, panthers and lions. Seen the dancing bronze elephant on the radiator cap of a Type 41 Royale? That’s his work.

Said dancing elephant is the reason why this car had bronze-coloured, clear-coated carbon bodywork. There was also Rembrandt’s signature lasered on the petrol and oil cap, and the elephant was stamped into the centre box between the rear seats.

Yours for €2.18m…

The Black Bess was inspired by the rickety 1912 Type 18 - nicknamed Black Bess because it was, um, black - which means this GSV wore the same monochromatic paint. But with a few details picked out in gold. Not gold paint, but 24 carats of the proper stuff, plating the front grille, wheel caps and filler flap.

Inside was more of the same. The door cards and rear cabin featured several doodles of the Type 18, and some scribbles of a bloke called Roland Garros’ aeroplane - a Morane-Saulnier Type H, if you’re interested. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t buff out - Bugatti developed a special application process so that they wouldn't be damaged by wear and tear.

As well as new leather finishes, you’d have also found more gold accents in the cabin - there was a gilded EB badge and elephant logo, though mercifully, the dial bezels weren't been dipped. The steering wheel was also fiddled with to tribute the T18 - it had a red rim inspired by the 1912 model.

As with the previous Veyron 'Legends' we've seen so far, the Ettore was based on the Grand Sport Vitesse, complete with that monster 8.0-litre W16 engine knocking out a very reasonable 1200bhp.

The design, we’re told, was inspired by Bugatti’s Type 41 of 1932, with a ‘yin-yang’ colour split. You’ll notice that Bugatti applied a clear-coated aluminium finish to the bonnet, the entire face, the wings, the doors and indeed, the wing mirrors.

The rear was finished in dark-blue exposed carbon. There were polished, diamond-cut wheels, platinum EB/Bugatti badging at the rear and natural brown calf’s leather throughout the interior. Again, just three were made...

Before it was laid to rest, there was one more Veyron special edition: built for a discerning customer from Singapore, this one-off, bespoke car was presented to the world at Pebble Beach in 2014.

It was once again a Grand Sport Vitesse, this time treated to a black and yellow colour scheme said to revive the ‘historical Bugatti colours’; the Type 41 Royale, Type 55 and Type 44 were all finished in the combo. Heck, even the beams over the old oak gates of the Bugatti HQ in Molsheim were black and yellow.

The radiator grille was redesigned to incorporate the Singaporean customer’s initials, laser cut and then black anodised. Those initials? PL. We’re assuming ‘Professor Lasers’. Or ‘Pity Lamborghinis’.

Then there was full black leather inside with yellow stitching dotted around, as well as a Bugatti Type 35 sketching rendered in the carbon lid of the centre box between the seats. Nice.

The £1.9m Chiron retained its predecessor's fundamental proportions and powertrain, but it was new in every other conceivable way, and built to bend physics to breaking point.

Unlike its closest competitors (if you can call them that) – the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918 - it relied solely on fossil fuels. Its engine was a development of the Veyron’s 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16, its gearbox a strengthened version of the Veyron’s seven-speed twin-clutch and, like the Veyron, it deployed its immense power through all four wheels.

Whereas the Veyron Super Sport produced a piffling 1183bhp and 1106lb ft of torque, though, the Chiron develops 1479bhp and 1180lb ft. Oh, and while at a constant top speed the Veyron could drain its 100-litre fuel tank in 12 minutes, the Chiron did it in 9. Then there was the top speed, which Bugatti limited to 261mph - a token 3mph more than the Veyron Super Sport.

Click on for this new kid's limited-edition offspring...

At €5m a pop, the Divo was twice the price of a Bugatti Chiron. The key here once again was exclusivity. It might have used the same 1,479bhp behemoth of an engine as the Chiron, but everything else was stiffer, lighter and generally madder, refocusing the car not on top speed, but going around corners like an LMP1 race car.

Only 40 were produced (that’s 40 on top of the 500 Chirons), and by the time it had been announced to the public all were already accounted for.

At 2018's Geneva Motor Show, Bugatti announced the Chiron Sport - a lightweight version of its luxo-hypercar. Well, we say 'light' - 18kgs were stripped out for a kerb weight of 1,977kg.

We know there will be 500 Chirons in total, and we know that Sport versions will be detracted from that number, but Bugatti has been coy on just how many will get the special treatment...

... they weren't so coy, however, with announcing that the '110 ans Bugatti' edition would be limited to just 20 cars worldwide.

If your French is as good as ours, you'll know that the 110 ans edition was to celebrate 110 years since Ettore's first car - the Type 10. It was finished in matt 'Steel Blue' with exposed blue carbon fibre and a gorgeous tricolore on the underside of the rear wing.

The most expensive new car ever. That's the way Bugatti announced the one-off La Voiture Noire at 2019's Geneva Motor Show. The exact figure wasn’t confirmed, but somewhere near £12m would be a pretty decent guesstimate. 

It pays homage to one of the four Type 57 SC Atlantics that was lost in transportation when the Nazis seized Bugatti's Molsheim factory in 1940, and has far more enhanced sculptural qualities than the Chiron it's based on. That styling certainly split opinion when it was announced, mind.

When VW bought and reactivated Bugatti in 1998, there was zero recognition for the achievement of the brand’s previous custodian, Romano Artioli, or the car he created, the EB110. Remember it? What a thing that was, and still is. A contemporary of the McLaren F1, it was powered by a 550bhp, 3.5-litre quad-turbo V12, with a carbon fibre chassis, and active aero, manufactured in a superb, state-of-the-art facility in Campogalliano near Modena.

The Centodieci may be Chiron based but it’s a clear visual homage to its Nineties forebear. 10 will be built costing around £7million each. 

The road-going version of the Chiron that hit, and passed, 300mph. The Super Sport 300+ has the same streamlined, long-tail bodywork, longer gear ratios and 1,578bhp as the record-breaker. 30 will be made costing £4.5million each. Of all the special-edition Chirons, surely this is the one to get...

Like the Chiron Sport, only...more. The Pur Sport weighs 50kg less than a regular Chiron thanks to new magnesium aero blade wheels (shod with sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tyres), titanium 3D printed exhaust tips, thinner glass in the rear window, titanium brake pad backplates, less sound deadening and a fixed rear-wing. 60 are being built at £3.5million each before options. Click these blue words to read our review. 

The Bugatti ‘La Voiture Noire’ is a proper one-off. But that didn't stop scores of people from getting in touch with the company asking for one of their own. This is what Bugatti's doing to placate those people - a bare carbon Chiron (or Chiron Sport) with lots of black and chrome detailing. 20 will be made. 

The 'Alice' is a one-off Chiron Sport commissioned by a Brit as a present for his wife who, and we're just speculating here, may also be called Alice. The colour scheme is what sets it apart from other Chirons - that pinky colour is officially called "Silk Rosé". It adorns the wheels and back half of the bodywork. Inside 'Alice' is embroidered into the seats in pink contrast stitching. 

Commissioned by an American collector, the Divo ‘Lady Bug’ features a paintjob so intricate, it took Bugatti two years and a whole lot of head-scratching to get right. The company even tested the process on two other Divos before setting to work on the customer’s car, just to make sure they had it nailed. 

Another one-off for an American collector, who decreed his Chiron would be trimmed and finished with input from French fashion label Hermès. Much of the car is finished in an off-white shade called “Craie”. 

This 20-off edition of the Chiron Sport is Bugatti "honoring French aviation and the former Bugatti drivers of the golden age who also piloted airplanes". The matte grey paintwork and Tricolor graphics pay tribute to aircraft, and the radiator grille is supposed to be "reminiscent of planes in a flyby formation". Inside the "Gaucho" leather is supposed to echo the natural leathers used to trim old airplanes.