Unique in the world, the model was born from the partnership between Bugatti and a collector who wrote a sequel to the French classic
The Bugatti W16 Mistral was born with legendary status: a 1,600 hp roadster limited to 99 units, created to mark the farewell to the brand’s iconic W16 8.0 engine. But, even though it was very rare, it gained a version elevated to the status of a work of art: through the Sur Mesure customization program, the French brand produced a unique copy (one-off) poetically named “Le retour du jeune prince” (The Return of the Young Prince) — a tribute to “The Little Prince”, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
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The project was born in October 2023, when a former Bugatti collector sought out Jascha Straub, head of the Sur Mesure division, at the Molsheim headquarters. The idea was to pay homage not only to Saint-Exupéry’s classic, but also to a work by the client himself, which continues the story of the little prince.
The body adopts an exclusive palette of metallic copper and bronze, designed to evoke the reflection of moonlight, which changes intensity according to the light. On the rear and airfoil, a starry sky was hand-painted, star by star. The great trick, however, appears at high speed: as it rises, the mobile airfoil reveals on its lower face a reinterpretation of the famous scene of the prince with the fox. The front emblem gained a golden outline, and the brake calipers, finished in copper.
The cabin continues the narrative with two-tone leather — a bright beige and a woody brown. On the doors, the moon and dozens of embroidered stars spread across the cockpit to the headrests. The highlight, however, is in the gear lever: a delicate silver rose was inlaid in it, recreated from the 3D scan of a real flower — a direct reference to the character’s rose.
Under the hood, the characters of the work appear engraved on the W16. The mechanics remained untouched: 1,600 hp, all-wheel drive and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, a set capable of exceeding 400 km/h.
