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Faded Dreams: Abandoned Bugatti Factory

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The name is slowly fading off the side of the building and the factory assembly lines now sit empty, but at one time this building was home to a very special brand. The Bugatti Automobile brand was reborn in 1987 and construction of the new factory in Campogalliano, Italy began in 1988 with the Grand opening in 1992. It was to be the most modern and advanced auto factory in the world. It was adorned with Bugatti’s famous hue of blue and proudly wore the Bugatti logo in true Italian fashion.

Bugatti_EB110_GT_1991

From 1992 to 1995 the Blue factory built just 80 of the EB110s at a cost of $349,000 each. This left Bugatti $22,000,000 in the red. Not being able to pay their debt, the brand went up for grabs. VW purchased the Bugatti name, Dauer bought the rights to the EB110s and the remains parts stock, while the factory was sold but left empty.

Bugatti plant

The factory now sits abandoned after only 3 years of use. A furniture manufacturer purchased the building, but went out of business before they even moved in. Those 80 EB110s could be the most costly automobiles to produce ever! So does anyone know if the factory is still empty or if something has finally been done with it?

Comments

  1. Avatar MM

    Looks like a pretty good place to turn into a place to live. Plenty of room to spread out…

    Like 0
  2. Avatar Michael Rogers Member

    What a great way to leave your mark! To make a great car after reviving the famous name!

    True some investors were seriously burnt but that’s the problem of such activities! Hopefully they all received a car or at least a momento of the marque to hang on their library’s wall.

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  3. Avatar Dolphin Member

    It’s hard enough to be successful in this business, but it’s even harder to do a startup with a high end, ultra-low production supercar. The car looked good, went well and even had some celebrity purchases, but it was no surprise when Bugatti went under. Buying Lotus before getting onto sound financial ground didn’t help.

    Better to start small, build your brand, and don’t get too ambitious before you can make some money with what you’re doing.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Brad

      “Better to start small, build your brand, and don’t get too ambitious…”

      Well, THAT wouldn’t be very Italian, now would it?! : )~

      Like 0
  4. Avatar Chris

    Those picture are very interesting. Especially the showroom and that huge computer. Crazy money spent on all that.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Wayne Thomas

    Excelsior-Henderson did this with motorcycles in Minnesota. Rule #1 if you revive a dead marque – use an old cheap building to START with to relieve pressure on cash flow and if….IF you start making bank….then you can consider spending mad cash on a swank showing off building. VW could afford to do so because they are already a well established company who could afford to throw away money on a vanity project. Startups simply don’t have that….luxury.

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    • Avatar Cameron Bater UK

      You’re right, of course, it’s well documented that they made a £4,000,000+ loss on each Veyron but the fact was that it was a technical exercise, can you go faster than 210Mph in a luxurious environment? and they had to qualify for the fastest production car record by producing a curtain amount of units

      Like 0
  6. Avatar john carapiet

    Tesla Italy,a perfect place…. John C

    Like 0
  7. Avatar JOE DUNLAP

    In March 2006 – as part of one of Frank Mandarano’s carguytour.com northwestern Italy exotic car tours, we were taken to the small, defunct, Edonis factory. As I walked up to that entry, I looked left and could see this Bugatti factory. I sure did want to get inside to see if there would be anything collectible in there. I think we were told that the Edonis – which I believe had 4 turbochargers, was built on remaining EB110 chassis. I still have some pics of the few cars and parts in Edonis and it was a spectacular and beautiful GT car. Far more attractive than the Bugatti EB110.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Paul

    Hello All,

    i found this article dating back to November 2014:
    http://www.autoblog.it/post/379650/alcune-immagini-dellex-stabilimento-bugatti-di-campogalliano
    In this article it is stated that the factory is taken care of, by Mr. Ezio Pavesi who is the keeper of the establishment. He works on behalf of a Roman lawyer, who bought the plant four years ago at an auction. It is said that Ezio invited them to publish his phone number (+36 0338-9313173). In this way he wants to open the doors of the factory to all interested persons, which can contact him and get agree to arrange a possible visit.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Cameron Bater UK

    Hmm I think the most costly vehicle to EVER be produced is the VW Bugatti Veyron £5,000,000 per item, sold for £1,000,000 per item (or there abouts) then it’s a long fall to the Insane Lexus LFA £650,000 to customers almost twice that to build and I know of no other figures surrounding vehicle production costs.
    In terms of my knowledge, that makes the EB 3rd most costly to build and the same for shortfall.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Doug Towsley

    Despite Detroits slow turnaround and steady improvement, there are still massive swaths of Michigan that look far worse than this place. Another poster was right about Henderson, bankrupted that state govt as they invested so heavily. I know the founders of the Norton motorcycle brand which was revived here in Oregon. A bargain at just over 9 million to develop into a shovel ready (Production ready) product but couldnt find investors to fund the start of manufacturing. Instead sold at fire sale to a chap in the UK for 3 million dollars. Too many other failed ventures scared off investors here in US. Look into the failures of the many attempts to revive Indian. Only reason its up and running now is Polaris had truckloads of money to burn. People who think its easy to start up a company should put their money where their mouth is.

    Like 0

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