A short History of Bugatti Divo.

With the DIVO, BUGATTI is returning to its roots and reviving a proud coachbuilding tradition. In the early 20th century it was common for luxury car manufacturers to deliver just a chassis to a client. The design and execution of the body would then be carried out by their coachbuilder of choice, who would have the body completed at their choice of coachbuilder.

BUGATTI was one of the first luxury carmakers to change this. By the end of the 1920s, Jean Bugatti, son of company founder Ettore, began to make an impact in Molsheim with his incredible designs. And so BUGATTI began to offer standardized work bodies to go with its innovative, lightweight chassis. First to be created were the Type 40 and the Type 43 Grand Sport, an open three-seater with a pointed tail reminiscent of BUGATTI’s racing cars.

The most acclaimed of Jean Bugatti’s standardized body designs belonged to the Type 57 series of the 1930s, which had no fewer than four options: the two-door, four-seater Ventoux; the two-door, four-seater cabriolet Stelvio; Galibier, a four-door, four-seater saloon, and the two-door, two-seater coupé Atalante.

The DIVO is a thrilling new interpretation of this coachbuilding past; distinct from the CHIRON but still unmistakably BUGATTI thanks to the instantly recognizable horseshoe front grill, signature C-shaped line, and characteristic central fin inspired by the Type 57 Atlantic.

BUGATTI offered one-offs or bodies limited to very small production runs. Notable examples include the 1931 Type 50T, the 1936 Type 57S Salon de Paris Roadster, and the Type 57SC Atlantic. Such extraordinarily beautiful creations helped the company further stand out from the competition and have become symbols of the golden era of French coachbuilding.