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Remember when Bugatti almost built a four-door? Not the 2010s Galibier you may have heard whispers about—go back further. In 1999, Bugatti rolled a velvet-lined, 555-horsepower W18 sedan onto the Geneva show stand and hint-winked at a world where the fastest badge on earth also made the most decadent limousine. Then… they buried it.
This is the forgotten prequel to the Veyron era—and once you hear the story, you’ll want to see the car in motion.
The sedan Bugatti actually built
Fresh off Volkswagen’s revival of the marque in the late ’90s, Bugatti teamed with Italdesign to show a series of concepts. After the EB118 coupe came the EB218: a long, sculpted four-door with a 6.3-liter W18 producing about 555 hp. The idea wasn’t a track monster—it was a rolling private lounge that could still outrun almost anything wearing a chauffeur’s cap.
Engine: experimental W18 (three banks of six cylinders)
Output: ~555 hp
Layout: front-engine, luxury four-door concept
Debut: Geneva Motor Show, 1999
The cabin looked like a cigar lounge on wheels—cream leather, wood, jewelry-grade switchgear. It was the kind of car you arrive in when your name is listed on the building.
Why you never saw it on the street
Two things killed the sedan dream:
Bugatti chose a North Star. After the concepts, the brand focused all oxygen on one moonshot: a 1,000-hp hypercar that became the Veyron. Every euro, engineer, and headline went there.
The world moved under it. A hand-built W18 limousine was wildly complex and wildly expensive. The market was pivoting to Bentley and Maybach; a Bugatti sedan would’ve been rarer than truth at a press launch.
Result: the EB218 faded into the archives. Bugatti tried a second time a decade later with the 16C Galibier (W16, twin-supercharged), and that was cancelled too. Twice the brand got close. Twice the sedan lost.
Why the EB218 still matters
It proves the brand’s range. Bugatti wasn’t just speed records and top-speed runs; they seriously explored becoming the world’s ultimate luxury coachbuilder—at 555 hp.
It’s the missing link. The EB218 shows how Bugatti experimented with the W-engine family before the Veyron production car cemented the W16 as the core.
It’s a what-if that won’t die. Every few years, rumors swirl: “Is Bugatti doing a four-door?” They’ve flirted with it twice. The DNA exists.
If it had happened…
Imagine a Bugatti sedan sharing garages with Bentleys and Phantoms, but with an engine layout no other luxury car dared touch. Valets would’ve needed training. Chauffeurs would’ve worn racing gloves. And the Autobahn would’ve gained a new left-lane legend wearing four doors and a horseshoe grille.
Quick timeline
1998: Italdesign shows EB118 (W18 coupe concept)
1999: EB218 sedan concept debuts with ~555 hp W18
2005: Bugatti Veyron (W16) becomes the production priority
2009–2010: 16C Galibier sedan concept appears, later shelved
Today: The four-door Bugatti remains the brand’s most tempting “what if”
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