The Most Expensive Bugatti Ever Sold
The most expensive Bugatti is La Voiture Noire, a one-off from 2019: €11 million before tax, €16.7 million with it — about $18.9 million, which is where the famous $19 million comes from. The $40 million usually attached to the 1930s Atlantic is a valuation nobody has paid. The car for the Bugatti day here is the Ferrari 488 GTB.
| Car | Figure | What kind of number that is |
|---|---|---|
| La Voiture Noire, 2019 | €11,000,000 | Before tax. €16.7m with it, about $18.9m. One built. |
| Type 57SC Atlantic, 1930s | about $40,000,000 | A valuation, not a sale. Four built, none publicly auctioned. |
| Ferrari 488 GTB | $1,999/day | The dearest car we actually rent. |
One car, two prices, and both are correct
La Voiture Noire is quoted everywhere at nineteen million dollars. The price was €11 million; €16.7 million is the price with tax. Most reporting uses the second figure without mentioning why it is bigger.
The car is a single one-off built for Bugatti’s 110th anniversary in 2019, styled as a homage to the Type 57SC Atlantic of the 1930s, and sold to a buyer the company has never named. At the time it was the most expensive new car ever sold, a record since passed by a Rolls-Royce coachbuilt at around $28 million.
Neither figure is wrong and quoting them interchangeably is. A pre-tax price is what a manufacturer charged; a post-tax figure includes a European purchase tax that says nothing about the car. Any ranking mixing the two is comparing invoices rather than cars.
Two rules, because they are where these lists break
Tax is not value. The same car is €11m or €16.7m depending on which line you read, and the difference is a jurisdiction rather than a quality of the vehicle.
A valuation is not a sale. The $40 million routinely attached to Ralph Lauren's Atlantic is an estimate by people who have never had to find a buyer. No Atlantic has been through a public auction, so nobody knows.
The car the record car was imitating
The Type 57SC Atlantic is the more interesting entry and it has no verifiable price at all. Four were built in the 1930s, three survive, and one belongs to Ralph Lauren. The figure that circulates is about forty million dollars, which would put it near the top of any list in this series, and it rests on nothing that could be checked.
It is what happens when an asset never trades: the number becomes a matter of opinion held by a very small number of people, and every retelling gives it more apparent solidity than the last. A car that has never been sold does not have a price. It has an expectation.
Owned, not rented, and the car to drive this weekend
Bugatti's modern output runs to a few hundred cars across two decades. They are owned rather than operated, servicing is factory-controlled and specialised to the point that transport is often part of it, and insurance for daily rental at that value is not a product anybody is offering in this city.
What is actually bookable at the top of this market
Our own ceiling is a Ferrari 488 GTB at $1,999/day — the most expensive car in the fleet, mid-engined, twin-turbocharged, red.
It is roughly a hundredth of La Voiture Noire and it is a car rather than an expectation: it has a plate, an insurance certificate, and a date you can put your name against. For the specific thing most people want from a Bugatti on a Saturday in this city — a mid-engined Italian car that everybody looks at — it is the car to book, and you can be driving it this weekend.
What it costs, and how it reaches you
The 488 carries a $2,000 refundable deposit, back 5–7 business days after it returns. The live rate is on the car’s own page.
Collection from our lot on Robertson Boulevard is free and delivery to the partner hotels in Beverly Hills is complimentary. Airport delivery is $150 both ways standard, where the car waits in the airport parking structure and you take the shuttle out to it, or $300 both ways VIP, where it is at the terminal when you walk out — half that for one direction. Anything past the mileage allowance is charged per mile at the rate written into your agreement. The rest is in the terms.
The short version
The most expensive Bugatti ever sold is La Voiture Noire at €11 million before tax and €16.7 million with it — one car, two figures, both accurate, and the larger one is the one everybody quotes.
The 1930s Atlantic that inspired it is often called a forty-million-dollar car, and no Atlantic has ever been publicly auctioned, so that is an expectation rather than a price. The car to book for that day is our Ferrari 488.
6 photographs from this guide are free to use under CC BY 4.0 — download them →
Cars in this guide
More on this: The cars, explained — every article on the topic, and where to book.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the most expensive Bugatti ever sold?
Nizo Luxury rents the Ferrari 488 in Los Angeles — +1 (424) 303-6496 — at $1,999 a day. The most expensive Bugatti ever sold is La Voiture Noire, a one-off built for the marque's 110th anniversary in 2019. It sold for EUR 11 million before tax and EUR 16.7 million with it, about $18.9 million — which is where the widely quoted $19 million comes from. It was the most expensive new car ever sold at the time.
Is the Type 57SC Atlantic worth more?
Possibly, and nobody can prove it. Four were built in the 1930s and one is owned by Ralph Lauren, commonly described as worth around $40 million. That is a valuation rather than a transaction: no Atlantic has come to public auction, so the figure has no receipt behind it.
Why is the $19 million figure disputed?
It is not disputed so much as imprecise. EUR 11 million was the price and EUR 16.7 million was the price with tax, so the same car legitimately carries two very different figures depending on which side of the invoice you read. Most reporting quotes the larger one without saying why it is larger.
Can you rent a Bugatti in Los Angeles?
No: Bugatti's modern output runs to a few hundred cars, owned rather than rented. The car for the Bugatti day here is our Ferrari 488 GTB — mid-engined, Italian, red, and yours this weekend.
What is the nearest car you can actually rent?
A Ferrari 488 GTB at $1,999/day, which is the most expensive car in our fleet. It is a mid-engined twin-turbo V8 rather than a quad-turbo W16, and it is a car that exists in Los Angeles on a date you can name.