Bugatti EB 118

The Bugatti EB 118 was the first concept car developed by Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., a two-door coupe presented at the 1998 Paris Motor Show. Bugatti commissioned its design from Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, and the styling was intended to echo the 1931 Type 50 and the Type 57SC Atlantic, with a longitudinal rib that echoes the Atlantic's dorsal body seam. It was powered by a Volkswagen-designed W18 engine, with three banks of six cylinders and a sixty degree offset between banks, producing 414 kilowatts, and had permanent four-wheel drive taken from the Lamborghini Diablo VT. After Paris, Bugatti showed it with its four-door counterpart the EB 218 at the Geneva Auto Show and the Tokyo Motor Show in 1999. The design was production ready, but Bugatti chose to focus on a sports car based on the 18/3 Chiron concept introduced in 1999, so the EB 118 stayed a concept car. The same powertrain was later used in the EB 218 and the 18/3 Chiron.