Bugatti has made a great variation of jaw-dropping cars, but almost all of them are based on the same layout ever since the days of the Veyron: mid-engined W16 with AWD. However, the company very nearly offered something else, something which may have been V8-powered or a hybrid, the Bugatti Atlantic.
A couple of years ago, the 2015 Atlantic concept got revealed as this stunning secret Bugatti that was made but not shown or approved for production. And it was stunning.
The Atlantic was, of course, a tribute to the classic Atlantic Type 57, one of the most valuable classic cars in the world. But the 2015 concept looked modern and was built quite differently from a regular Bugatti like the Chiron. Basically, this was a really expensive GT car with butterfly doors and a huge clam shell trunk opening revealing bespoke luggage.
The horseshoe grille was much wider at the front and got flanked by a couple of side intakes, most likely for intercoolers. That’s because where the Chiron and Veyron had W16 engines behind the driver, this had its powertrain at the front.
The powertrain was never officially announced, but it’s known that the Atlantic would have had a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with the option of either a hybrid or full-electric drive. And where the Chiron costs about $3 million, its GT brother would have cost about a third of that.
Why the Atlantic was canceled
Ultimately, the Atlantic was a victim of the Dieselgate scandal. Bugatti was owned by Volkswagen, so funding ofโฆ basically everything was cut at the time while they tried to figure out the repercussions and implications coming from TDI. It’s fun to think what would have happened if the Atlantic would have reached production.
We know lots of car-crazy collectors like to have their prized exotics inside the house. And no, not like in a garage; literally inside the house. Some even lift them to the top floors of skyrise buildings. In the words of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) in Fast 7, “nothing is sadder than locking a beast in a cage.”
But what if the cage is digital? That’s right. This is a rendering, done by LMM Design, who’s got a specific style that’s borderline interior decorating. The 3D model of the 2015 Atlantic concept did undergo one major change, and that’s the transition from black to a golden, iPhone-like paint finish.
Notice the vein of silver going through the crest of the car. That’s a tribute to the original Atlantic but also lends itself nicely to interior decoration, as lmm23design has put his Swiss touch on a pair of matching Bugatti chairs and a side table.