Bugatti Centodieci revealed: Is this the world's ugliest car?

It costs $13m and has a face only a mother could love - meet the Bugatti Centodieci.

The Volkswagen-owned hypercar company has unveiled its latest limited edition creation at the Monterey car week in the US. Centodieci translate as 110, because this latest creation is a homage to Bugatti’s 1990s model the EB110 which helped revive the company briefly before the arrival of the Veyron in 2005.

Bugatti will only build 10 Centodieci and they have already been snapped up - despite its polarising appearance. While the display car is finished in white (giving it a Stormtrooper-like appearance) customers will be able to choose their own hue; although that’s not unreasonable given the eye-watering price tag.

“With the Centodieci, we pay homage to the EB110 super sports car which was built in the 1990s and is very much a part of our tradition-steeped history,” said Bugatti president, Stephan Winkelmann. “With the EB110, Bugatti catapulted itself to the top of the automotive world once again after 1956 with a new model.”

Not surprisingly, trying to marry the modern shape of the Chiron donor car with aesthetics of a quintessential ‘90s wedge shaped supercar was a challenge for the designers and the result is the dramatic love-it-or-hate-it appearance.

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“The challenge was not to allow oneself to be captivated too much by the design of the historic vehicle and work solely in retrospect, but instead to create a modern interpretation of the shape and technology of that time,” explained Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s head designer. 

In order to at least attempt to justify the extreme cost Bugatti has managed to shave 20kg of weight from Centodieci compared to the regular Chrion. To achieve that it has gone to extreme lengths, crafting a carbon fibre windscreen wiper.

Under the bonnet is the Chrion’s 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged W16 engine capable of whopping 1176kW but the company has limited the top speed to 380km/h. Still, Bugatti claims it can do the 0-100km/h sprint in just 2.4seconds, 0-200km/h in 6.1secs and 0-300km/h in 13.1secs.

“It’s not just the top speed that makes a hyper sports car. With the Centodieci, we once again demonstrate that design, quality and performance are just as important,” Winkelmann said.