This Bugatti Divo Lady Bug's Geometric Paint Job Is Truly One-Of-A-Kind
The Bugatti Divo is a Chiron for the racetrack, but this Lady Bug version with its diamond-shaped fading patterns is best appreciated while the car is stationary. As if the Divo is not outrageous enough, one lucky customer in America wants to push the boundaries further. And as expected, Bugatti pulled it off, although it took quite a while to iron the challenges of creating an exclusive, one-off Lady Bug paint job.
"Every Bugatti Divo is one of a kind. With the custom-made 'Lady Bug,' Bugatti has demonstrated the full range of its customization expertise," said Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. The car really demonstrates what the marque is capable of in terms of creativity and craftsmanship."
Creating Lady Bug's geometric-dynamic algorithmic fading pattern seems easy on paper. Given the Divo's three-dimensional sculpted body, the 2D digital patterns became distorted upon application to the car's body, which is not good enough if you're paying upwards of $5-million for a track-ready version of the Bugatti Chiron.
"The Lady Bug was an exceptional challenge and, at the same time, an unforgettable experience. Due to the nature of the project, where a 2D graphic was applied to a 3D sculpture, we were close to giving up," said Jörg Grumer, Head of Color & Trim at Bugatti Design. "However, it is our profound conviction that we should never give up and that our foremost motivation should always be to make the impossible possible for the customer."
The entire project took two years to complete as Bugatti CAD modelers simulated and created a diamond pattern design with around 1,600 individual diamonds in six-meter long transfer films. Each diamond (yes, all 1,600 of them) is checked and realigned in the body to rule out any distortions.
The designers spent countless hours rehearsing the application procedure on two test vehicles before the moment of truth.
"Every maneuver had to be exactly right in this painstaking task; therefore, we decided to do another rehearsal before the final stage of work. Because there could only be one attempt on the customer's car, and that had to be perfect," said Dirk Hinze, an expert in customization and surfaces at Bugatti.
The final step is applying the paint finish before painstakingly peeling away each diamond. The base color, Customer Special Red, is contrasted with graphite and clear coat to invert the pattern. According to Bugatti, it took the paintwork artist two weeks to sand, smooth, check, retouch, and re-sand every millimeter of the body surface.
The result is a one-of-a-kind Bugatti Divo Lady Bug, the only one in existence. It has a standard 8.0-liter W16 engine pumping out 1,479 horsepower. Since the Divo weighs less and has more downforce than a regular Chiron, it goes around the Nardo handling circuit a full eight seconds faster than the former.