The Car on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bugatti files for Rembrandt patent

Though increasingly uncommon today, back in the day every automaker had a hood ornament. Bugatti's was an elephant standing up on its hind legs with its trunk extended into the sky. It capped the nose on the famous Bugatti Type 41 Royale, and it was designed by Rembrandt.
No, not the famous Dutch artist, but Rembrandt Bugatti - the younger brother of carmaker Ettore Bugatti who was named after the painter.
So why do we mention this, you ask? Because one of our readers just alerted us to a patent application with the European Union's Office for Hamonization in the Internal Market. It was filed by Audi's intellectual property office on behalf of its sister company and encompasses the name Rembrandt Bugatti.

Ferdinand Piech (1937-2019): The man who made VW global

Towering among his peers, a giant of the auto industry died Sunday night in Rosenheim/Upper Bavaria, Germany. Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Volkswagen in the 1930s, was the most polarizing automotive executive of our times. And one who brought automotive technology further than anyone else. Ferdinand Porsche had a son, Ferdinand (called "Ferry"), and a daughter, Louise, who married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech. They gave birth to Ferdinand Piech, and his proximity to two Alfa Romeo sports cars — Porsche had done some work for the Italians — and the "Berlin-Rome-Berlin" race car, developed by Porsche himself, gave birth to Piech's interest in cars. After his teachers in Salzburg told his mother he was "too stupid" to attend school there, Piech, who was open about his dyslexia, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. He subsequently moved on to Porsche, where he fixed issues with the 904 race car and did major work on the 911. But his greatest project was the Le Mans-winning 917 race car, developed at breathtaking financial cost. It annihilated the competition, but the family had had enough: Amid growing tension among the four cousins working at Porsche and Piech's uncle Ferry, the family decided to pull every family member, except for Ferry, out of their management positions. Piech started his own consultancy business, where he designed the famous five-cylinder diesel for Mercedes-Benz, but quickly moved on to Audi, first as an engineer and then as CEO, where he set out to transform the dull brand into a technology leader. Piech killed the Wankel engine and hammered out a number of ambitious and sophisticated technologies. Among them: The five-cylinder gasoline engine; Quattro all-wheel drive and Audi's fantastic rally successes; and turbocharging, developed with Fritz Indra, whom Piech recruited from Alpina. The Audi 100/200/5000 became the world's fastest production sedan, thanks to their superior aerodynamics. Piech also launched zinc-coated bodies for longevity — and gave diesel technology a decisive boost with the advent of the fast and ultra-efficient TDI engines. Less known: Piech also decided to put larger gas tanks into cars. Customers loved it. Piech's first-generation Audi V8 was met with derision by competitors; it was too obviously based on the 200/5000.

Bugatti moving ahead with Veyron successor

With production of the Veyron coming to an end, all eyes are fixed squarely on Bugatti and what it
will do next. Because by next year, it will have sold the last examples of the Grand Sport and Vitesse roadsters, and after that there will be no more. And since the Veyron line is the only one Bugatti makes - or has made, for that matter, since Volkswagen took it over - it will need something else in place or it will effectively go dormant. The only question is what that next project will be - or more likely, given the timeframe, already is.
One thing which Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber - who is now president of Bugatti and was its technical director during the Veyron's development - ruled out in speaking with Top Gear is that there won't be any further development of the existing Veyron. Schreiber put to rest the longstanding rumors that an even more extreme evolution of the Veyron than the record-breaking Super Sport would be made, and that the vehicle would die after the remaining 43 examples have been built. Nor will Bugatti proceed with development of a four-door model. It's an idea that Bugatti entertained prior to the release of the Veyron with the EB218 concept at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show and again after it with the Galibier concept in 2009, but it's ultimately been put to rest. According to Schreiber, a four-door Bugatti "would confuse our customers."