Rare Bugatti EB110 GT Sets $3.8 Million Auction Record

A 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT has sold at auction for $3.8 million, marking a new high point for one of the most fascinating supercars of the 1990s.

The result says plenty about where collector attention is moving, but this particular car had more in its favour than rarity alone.

Known by its chassis number 39012 and internal designation C13, it’s a factory prototype with show-car history, remarkably low mileage and a direct link to the turbulent final chapter of Bugatti’s Italian era.

At a glance

A Bologna Motor Show car with real factory significance

The EB110 already occupies a special place in modern supercar history, but chassis 39012 carries a particularly interesting identity.

It’s one of only 15 factory prototypes built and belongs to the second generation of EB110 development, using the carbon-fibre chassis that became central to the car’s technical story.

This example wasn’t built as a hard-used development mule.

Instead, it served as a show car and was displayed at the 1992 Bologna Motor Show, which helps explain its unusually low mileage more than three decades later.

The odometer shows just 712 miles, a figure that turns an already rare EB110 into something closer to an preserved artefact from Bugatti’s brief but deeply ambitious Romano Artioli period.

Bugatti Blu, Dauer details and a changed identity

The car is now finished in Bugatti Blu, one of the shades most closely associated with the marque’s performance identity.

It wasn’t always blue, though, as the car was originally painted Verde Scuro.

Inside, the cabin is trimmed in light gray leather, a restrained contrast to the technical intensity of the car underneath.

It also wears 18-inch magnesium wheels and carries several Dauer-specific additions, connecting it to another important part of the EB110 story.

After Bugatti’s bankruptcy, the car was acquired by Jochen Dauer’s Dauer Racing, the German operation that later became closely associated with remaining EB110 assets and continuation-related development.

That combination of factory prototype status, motor show provenance and Dauer history gives C13 a layered identity rather than a simple low-mileage collector-car narrative.

The quad-turbo V12 still defines the EB110

Even by current standards, the EB110 GT’s mechanical package remains serious.

Power comes from a 3.5-litre quad-turbocharged V12 producing 550 hp and 451 lb-ft of torque, paired with a 6-speed manual transmission.

Permanent all-wheel drive gave the EB110 a different character from many of its rear-drive rivals, pairing exotic engine architecture with real traction and usability.

That specification helped make the car feel advanced in its day, and it’s a major reason the EB110 has become increasingly appreciated as the market reassesses the analogue supercars of the 1990s.

The recent visibility of EB110s in enthusiast circles has not hurt either, with Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso recently seen driving a burgundy example in Monaco.

Details & Specifications

The $3.8 million result is more than a headline number for a rare 1990s supercar.

It reflects a growing appetite for machines that sit between analogue drama and modern engineering ambition, and the EB110 GT C13 delivers that in unusually concentrated form.