2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 on 2040-cars

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Rembrandt signs off on the latest special edition Bugatti Vitesse

Remember when the Bugatti Veyron first came out? You'll have to go back the better part of a decade to 2005. People were taken aback by the million-dollar asking price. But now there are plenty of cars with price tags in the seven-figure range.
Pagani gets that much for the Huayra, as does McLaren for the P1 and Ferrari for LaFerrari. Aston Martin charged seven digits for the One-77, Hennessey charges that much for the Lotus-based Venom GT, Zenvo does for the ST1 and you can bet SSC will charge at least as much for the Tuatara. Suddenly the notion of a million-dollar supercar doesn't seem so absurd, does it?
$3 million - now that's another story, but that's just what Bugatti gets for the latest special edition Veyron you see here. The price for the "basic" Veyron inflated over the years, of course, and then went up with each iteration. The Grand Sport kicked it up a notch when it blew the roof off. The Super Sport that much more when it upped the power and the speed. Bugatti got that much more when it combined the best attributes of both to make the Vitesse roadster, and squeezes out just an extra little bit for each edition of its Legends series.

Bugatti does up a special Vitesse for Lang Lang

It may be a bit of a stretch to find similarities between pianos and sportscars, but bear with us. Both are made to perform, both have pedals and wheels (albeit of radically different size), and both tend to cost around the same. Unless you're talking about a Bugatti, which would set you back more than any piano this side of a Bösendorfer with serious pedigree.
Well, Bugatti has just drawn an even closer parallel with this latest edition of the Veyron Vitesse roadster. And not by applying some black lacquered trim pieces, either. When celebrated concert pianist Lang Lang visited the factory at Château St. Jean in Molsheim, Bugatti took the wraps off this unique Vitesse with a high-contrast black and white finish inspired by a piano keyboard.
The treatment, which also echoes a specific Type 57 Atalante, continues inside with white leather embroidered with black stitching to mimic sheet music, with gold plating on the steering wheel, wheel hubs and fuel cap. Lang Lang even signed the center console with a gold marker. Best of all, spool up that sixteen-cylinder engine and it'll make sweeter music to our ears than any piano ever could.

The legend lives on in Bugatti Black Bess promo clip

To this year's Beijing Motor Show, Bugatti showed up with a special Veyron called Black Bess. It's the fifth in a series of six Legend editions that pay homage to a figure from the Alsatian marque's considerable history - in this case legendary French aviator Roland Garros. Now it's released a promo video showing off the stunning (if mechanically unaltered) black Vitesse roadster.
Not that Bugatti will need any help selling the Black Bess edition, of which only three will be made. Despite their $3 million price tags, Bugatti has sold every one of the previous four Legend runs, helping it move those last examples of the legendary Veyron before it can move on to the next chapter in its history.
Like any other Vitesse, the Black Bess edition packs a 6.0-liter, quad-turbo W16 engine driving 1,184 horsepower to all four wheels. What sets this special edition apart is the lustrous black paint, 24-carat gold accents and uniquely decorated cream leather interior with historic story-boards of classic Bugatti T18 and airplanes on the door panels. All of which may strike you as rather silly, but makes for a rather stunning vehicle highlighted in the video below.