Bugatti is known as the purveyor of some of the fastest, most outlandish cars ever seen on Earth, but who or what is the carmaker named after?
This one’s actually really to answer, because the company is named after its founder, Ettore Bugatti. In fact, the full legal name of the company is Automobiles Ettore Bugatti, and the EB monogram on the hood badge, trunk and elsewhere is all about the founder.
The Bugatti brand has always been a little bit international, with Ettore Bugatti a native of Milan, Italy. He established Bugatti in 1909 in the town of Molsheim, which was then part of the German Empire.
As part of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, the town of Molsheim and the region of Alsace was transferred to France.
The original Bugatti company closed in 1952. The name and the company were revived Romano Artioli, who built a factory and headquarters for the new supercar maker in Campogalliano, Italy.
After the ill fated launch in EB110, the company went under, only to be revived a second time, this time by Volkswagen, who setup a new headquarters and factory in the company’s historic home of Molsheim, France.
