Check Out These Previously Unseen Secret Bugatti Designs

Bugatti has announced it’s holding a seminar next month in which a panel of experts, including the brand’s former design director Achim Anscheidt, will give attendees an in-depth look at the journey of Bugatti design, from the brand’s early days right up to its present and even future.

This, in itself, isn’t particularly interesting, but what is very interesting are some of the images Bugatti has released alongside this announcement, which include sketches and renderings for some fairly wild concepts that have never come close to seeing the light of day, some of which have never been seen before. Pull up a chair, and let’s take a look.

First, we’ve got a big, front-engined GT car. Dating from 2008, it’s supposed to be a contemporary interpretation of the famous and utterly beautiful Type 57SC Atlantic from the 1930s. Elements like the Atlantic’s downswept windows and split rear screen have been carried over onto something that looks like it would have been an almighty continent-crosser, and hey, look! Rear-view cameras instead of mirrors! That was pretty forward-thinking in 2008.

Bugatti toyed with this front-engined notion for a while, going as far as creating a full-scale concept in 2015 that incorporated some Chiron design cues but was never publicly unveiled. It still hasn’t ruled out the idea of a car with its engine in front of the occupants, either.

Next up, we have the ‘T35 Homage’ from 2018. Designed as a homage to the massively successful Type 35 racer of the 1920s, this open-wheeled concept looks like a kind of steampunk Caterham Seven. We have no idea what might have been powering it, but it has a big, wide bonnet that looks like it could definitely accommodate a W16. This one was created by Walter de Silva, who led the design of cars such as the Alfa Romeo 156, original Audi R8, and third-gen Volkswagen Scirocco. Images of this were shown back in late 2020.

The first of two wild-looking, racing-inspired designs is an undeveloped 2014 proposal for Bugatti’s Vision Gran Turismo concept. That's the red car at the top of this article. It looks much more like a pure motorsport design, almost Le Mans Prototype-esque, than the car that would eventually make its way into Gran Turismo, which ended up giving us a sneak preview of the production Chiron.

Even wilder than that, though, is another Type 35 homage, this time from 2015. While de Silva’s design attempted to update the T35’s looks for the modern day, this one seems to take its ethos as the inspiration instead – that is, being the most technologically advanced racer possible. It’s pure concept car, somewhere between a Caparo T1 and the flight of Gran Turismo fantasy that was the Red Bull X2010. Apparently designed by a Bugatti intern, images of it were eventually shown off in 2020.

Finally – and you’ll need to do some zooming in for this one – there’s a series of quarter-scale clay design proposals for the Chiron, dating from 2008. This was a full seven years before the final car would be unveiled, but already you can see certain elements of its design, like the angry, slender headlights, starting to appear.

We’re not sure what other secrets Bugatti will dig out of its archives for the seminar, which is taking place at the Nationales Automuseum near Cologne, Germany on 8 and 9 November. If you want to find out, you’ll need to stump up €2750, or around £2300, to grab one of the limited number of spaces.