Bugatti coats W16 Mistral with German porcelain in unique handmade edition

Bugatti presented another of its bespoke creations and, once again, proved that, for its audience, the sky — and the budget — is not the limit. The new Bugatti W16 Mistral “Blanc Éternel” comes as a direct tribute to the iconic Veyron Grand Sport “L’Or Blanc”, from 2011, and resumes the use of porcelain as an aesthetic element. Developed by the Sur Mesure customization division, the model is the result of the brand’s partnership with the German Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM). The collaboration between the two brands began 15 years ago, precisely with “L’Or Blanc”, on which Bugatti’s current design director, Frank Heyl, personally worked.

Unlike the Veyron that inspired it, the Mistral swaps fluid lines for a geometric pattern. The black lines that cut through the white body were applied by hand and reproduce the digital mesh of surfaces – the model was entirely designed in a virtual environment, without a clay model – which gives the car an aspect that oscillates between the technological and the almost skeletal. The porcelain, in turn, is not in the chassis structure, but in strategic finishing points: the EB emblem, the fuel cap, the oil caps and two pieces embedded in the engine cover, engraved with the KPM logo, the royal scepter.

Inside, the white leather gets the same treatment of black lines, while parts that the driver frequently manipulates — the gear selector, the window buttons, the console armrest and the speaker grilles — are made of porcelain. The comfort of resting the elbow on ceramic material is debatable, but the proposal is admittedly aesthetic, aimed at extreme collecting. According to KPM, each piece requires a thorough calculation: porcelain shrinks by about 17% when fired in the kiln, and this shrinkage needs to be anticipated so that the component fits accurately into the car.

The example is based on the Mistral, the brand’s last model to carry the colossal W16 engine — a four-turbo with 1,600 hp of power and 163 kgfm of torque — before Bugatti’s transition to the hybrid era, inaugurated by the Tourbillon. Produced in only 99 units, the “standard” Mistral already costs more than R$ 26 million (US$ 5 million); the price of the “Blanc Éternel”, a one-of-a-kind example, has not been disclosed, but it is expected to be even higher. To accompany the car, KPM and Bugatti also created a porcelain collection limited to 1,000 pieces, with two glasses inspired by the project.