Bugatti: The Italian Decade

The story of Bugatti's reincarnation in the late 1980s.

When in 1987, Romano Artioli and his high-profile associates--Ferruccio Lamborghini, Paolo Stanzani and Jean-Marc Borel--decided to reincarnate Bugatti, one of the most famous automotive marques of all time, they were not the first to go down this path. Attempts at relaunching famous brands, such as Duesenberg, Invicta, Mercer and Stutz, had been made by moneyed adventurers, yet all the projects, almost without fail, had ended in sorrow.

In what way could Bugatti be any different? In Ferruccio Lamborghini, Paolo Stanzani and design legend Marcello Gandini, they had three of the most prominent names in the Italian supercar firmament, and the factory at Campogalliano was one of the most modern, stylish, and theoretically efficient in the realms of automotive manufacturing edifices. The inauguration itself was an event of great splendour, with the who's who of the European automobile industry present, suggesting a bright future for the marque.

Five years later, Romano Artioli's dream was over. Bankruptcy was declared, the factory was closed, leaving the last hundred workers jobless, and the beautiful campus reduced to a ghost building. Not even a decade had passed between the first germs of an idea in 1986, and the end in 1995, yet there are enough ingredients for an exciting action-filled television series: discord, rivalry, pride, power, money, prestige, stars, crises and a dramatic end.

What happened? Why did it happen? Bugatti: The Italian Decade answers all that and more.