Bugatti's 'Secret' Concepts That Never Got Built

Few marques are as lauded around the world as Bugatti - the ultra-exclusive, ultra-expensive French supercar brand that is today operated by the Volkswagen Group. Since its revival under Volkswagen's ownership in the earlier part of this century, the Bugatti marque has produced a number of unfathomably high-performance production models.

Yet just as noteworthy as the cars that Volkswagen's Bugatti has produced are the ones that it hasn't. Top Gear recently took a look back at some of these "secret" concept cars, and they're every bit as bedroom poster-worthy as cars like the Veyron and Chiron - cars that actually, somehow, managed to roll out of the factory. Let's have a look.

First on the list is the Bugatti Atlantic - a modern take on the 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic, which was supposed to show at the 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance but ended up skipping the show due to complications relating to Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal.

A full year-and-a-half went into its design ,and it was tipped to receive a V8, coupled with an electric drivetrain that would have borrowed heavily from the Porsche Taycan. Of all the Bugatti concepts that never reached production, the Atlantic was likely the closest, and if not for the giant cash and image drain that was VW's diesel emissions scandal, it might have made it.

Yet the next concept on the list - the Bugatti Veyron Barchetta - was arguably just as prescient when it was bolted together back in 2008, considering the recent crop of boutique roofless supercars like the Ferrari Monza and McLaren Elva.

The Veyron Barchetta was based on the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, drawing upon the same quad-turbocharged W16 engine for motivation. Yet somehow or another, where that car was considered practical enough to produce, Volkswagen's Bugatti decided against building the Barchetta, which is a crying shame.