the Bugatti EB110 is one of the most iconic cars of the 1990s. Four turbochargers feed the engine and develop 900 hp at 5,500 rpm. This gives it a 0-60 mph time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 212.5 mph, which was the fastest super car at the time. The design was revolutionary, and it was one of the first cars to have all-wheel drive, which gave it great traction on both dry and wet surfaces. The EB110 was also built with aerodynamics in mind, making it incredibly fast in a straight line.
The Bugatti EB110 wasn’t just an impressive sports car – it was also an expensive one. In 1991, when Bugatti launched it, an EB110 cost around $500,000 USD. But despite its high price tag, not many people bought one and production lasted only five years before Bugatti closed down its factory in Molsheim, France, in 1995 due to financial problems caused by poor sales figures and high production costs.
The Bugatti EB110 Was Too Expensive For The Time
via: Bugatti
The car cost way too much for the ’90s. When they delivered the first examples to customers, the car cost around $750,000. This was an incredibly high price tag for a car built by an unknown brand at that time. The Bugatti EB110 represents an interesting case study on how not to launch a new brand. The EB110 was expensive, costing almost twice as much as its main competitor – the Ferrari F40.
Bugatti produced only 180 units of the EB110 before production ended in 1995. The company went bankrupt two years later, and it took another ten years before anyone bought the rights to use the Bugatti name again. When the first examples got delivered to customers, there was already a global recession going on in Europe and North America. The demand for high-end vehicles dropped significantly during this period, which resulted in sales of only about 100 units between 1992 and 1994.
The Supercar Couldn’t Beat The McLaren F1 Hype
via: RM Sotheby’s
Performance-wise, the Bugatti was impressive. It had a 3.5-liter V12 engine that produced over 553 horsepower and a top speed of 218 mph. But it couldn’t beat the McLaren F1 hype. The McLaren was the one that outranked this car and stole the show of the era. It was also one of the most expensive cars at its time and had many people talking about it, which helped make it popular among consumers.
The Bugatti EB110 came out in 1992 and lasted until 1995 replaced by the Bugatti EB112. The Bugatti EB110 GT is still considered one of the best supercars ever made by many people today, but it never took off like many expected it would back then.
A Financial End For Bugatti
via: Bugatti
The Bugatti EB110 was a car with some serious problems. It was expensive, exclusive traction, and ultimately failed to gain with the public. The original plan was for Bugatti to build about 150 of these cars per year, but in reality they built only about 180 between 1992 and 1995. Bugatti’s finances were in rough shape throughout this period as well, for many reasons.
A financial crisis erupted in 1992 when the company tried to raise money from investors by offering them shares at low prices – 100 times what they’d been worth just a few months earlier. This led to an investigation by Italian authorities over allegations that former chairman Romano Artioli was trying to sell his shares at a higher price than he’d promised investors when they bought theirs — something that would be illegal under Italian law.
The Lotus Acquisition
via Bugatti
The Bugatti EB110 was a car that was ahead of its time, but it never had the success it should have had. This is because the owner of Bugatti at the time, Romano Artioli, didn’t have enough money to fund the company properly. One of these reasons was because of a hasty decision to try to buy Lotus by using sneaky investment techniques that would ultimately come back to haunt him.
Artioli wanted to buy Lotus, but he couldn’t afford it. In order to get enough money, he tried to sell 80% of Bugatti’s shares to a Japanese company. The problem with this deal was that when Artioli agreed to it, he did not inform his European bankers or any other investors about this plan. So, when Artioli tried to raise money from them, he left them shocked, and they pulled their funds from him immediately, leaving him unable to pay off his debts or fund Bugatti’s operations any further.
The EB110 came at a time when there were many other high-end cars competing for attention from wealthy buyers, like the Lamborghini Diablo, the Ferrari F40, and the McLaren F1. These vehicles offered similar performance than the EB110, and they also cost less money too.
Source: Bugatti, Yahoo