Without putting too fine a point on it, Bugatti appeals to a pretty select clientele. Nevertheless, its product planners grapple with the same challenge that faces every automaker: When you’re spending multi-millions to achieve exclusivity, you don’t want to see a mirror image of your Veyron motoring around every corner. Right?
Bugatti’s answer to this problem is a series of 18 limited-edition Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse roadsters—Les Légendes de Bugatti. The series consists of six three-car groups, each named for famous figures from Bugatti’s glory years, and this one, fourth in the sequence, is called Rembrandt.
The name suggests artistic inspiration, which is true, but it’s not the Rembrandt you might expect. This Rembrandt was Rembrandt Bugatti, brother of company founder Ettore, and a well-known sculptor. Although Rembrandt won fame for his work with bronze sculptures, he’s celebrated in Bugatti family lore for creating the dancing elephant logo that adorns the grille of the princely Type 41 Bugatti, better known as the Royale.
Commemorating Rembrandt Bugatti’s favored artistic medium, the latest Vitesse Legend sports bronze-hued clearcoat carbon fiber on its upper half contrasting with a light brown lower portion. The wheels are two-toned in colors Bugatti head designer Achim Anscheidt calls “noix” and “firefinch,” and Rembrandt’s signature has been laser etched onto the gas cap and oil-filler cover.
