An ode to the legendary EB110. Only 10 will be made.
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance seems like the perfect place for a brand like Bugatti to show up and just flex. And, in fact, they have done just that this year with the Centodeici. In Italian, that means 110, referring to the legendary but somewhat forgotten EB110.
That number is also significant due to this year being the 110th anniversary of the company’s founding, where the EB110 supercar from 1991 was so named to commemorate 110 years since the birth of its founder, Ettore Bugatti. Unsurprisingly, there are many cues to link the two cars.
True, the Centodeici is yet another factory customised version of the marque’s sole production model, the Chiron, but at least there’s some story behind why the car looks the way that it does. In fact, there’s probably few cars that could compare to the EB110 in terms of its mystique and technical achievement, therefore none are as deserved of an homage.
At the front, the Centodeici’s nose has been redesigned to mimic its forebear’s small central horseshoe intake, flanked by twin strakes and thin headlamps to match the slim signature illuminators on the EB110.
The 90s supercar did often come in this striking white exterior finish as well, however the wheels are wholly a new design un-reminiscent of previous Bugattis, least of all the EB110. Moving toward the rear, we find the iconic C-shaped B-pillar replaced with a more traditional sloping belt line that is highlighted by 5 air inlets that feed air directly into the engine bay, a cue directly taken from the EB110 Super Sport.
Speaking of the engine, naturally, the Centodeici sports the same quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 engine as the Chiron, developing 1,176kW and endowing the car with a 0-100km/h sprint time of 2.4 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 380km/h.
It’s a far cry from the equally quad-turbocharged 3.5-litre 60-valve V12 that was slotted into the EB110, but no less a technical wonder. Where the 1991 car managed to outpace the McLaren F1 in acceleration, it was bested in top speed.
The tale of the EB110 is one of great ambition, resulting in genre-defining machine of its day. It would all end tragically, however, as the privately owned Bugatti entered insolvency, prematurely ending its production run after just 4 years and 139 examples produced.
Eventually, Bugatti Automobili would end up in the hands of the Volkswagen Group in 1998, a deal brokered by Ferdinand Piech. Soon after, work began on a new ultimate supercar, and 10 years after the final EB110 left the Campogalliano factory, the first Veyron was produced in 2005. The rest is history.
