History of the Speed

Ettore Bugatti was born in the late nineteenth century in Milan, Italy. He attempted designing and montaging an automobile in the early twentieth century. Initially, he made a 2-cylinder car and won in a race. This was a good motivation for him to continue his favorite work.

Because of the artistic nature of the Bugatti family, Ettore had both design and Industrial production professions. He designed many automobiles for companies and got famous because of producing a small car with a 4-cylinder 1208 cc engine.

After that, he made another model and Peugeot bought that for mass production. By considering the profit Peugeot achieved by this model, Ettore decided to establish his own company at Molsheim in 1909 and he started designing 3-valve engines.

In 1914, World War I started and effected many industries such as automobile production. So Ettore assigned some of the production lines for the military based automobiles and tanks.

After the war, the company returned to normal status. Bugatti type 30 revived the fame of the brand and it was the best race car between two World Wars. In 1924, Bugatti type 35 was produced but it lost the chance of participating in international races because of the amateur costumers.

In 1913, Ettore had some plans for designing a car that attracts all the world. His dreams came true by Bugatti type 41 AKA Bugatti Royale.

In 1926, Ettore Decided to emigrate to Paris because of some financial problems and started designing ships and airplanes. He entrusted his valuable legacy to a creative and skillful person; his son Jean Bugatti.

Jean upgraded the design's base and helped in the company's progress. He was so interested in this industry and drove all of the company's models himself. When he was testing type 57 racing car, he crashed into a tree and died.

After his death, Molsheim Company changed the production line for the third time to military equipment. Ettore also Established another branch of the company in the suburbs of Paris for his younger son, Roland.

In 1951, Bugatti remastered Type 57 but because of the low sales, Hispano-Suiza bought Bugatti in 1963.

In 1970, the company was added to Safran Aircraft Engines (Snecma) for making airplane parts.

In 1987, Romano Artioli, an Italian Businessman Bought this Brand Name and made Bugatti S.p.A Company. But finally, Volkswagen Bought the car Production line of the Company and changed its name to Bugatti Automobiles.