Page 22 - Sample pages "Bugatti, The Italian Decade" by Gautam Sen

ThE GrAND UNvEILING ⡇ChAPTEr v
TOP: Another view of the unveiling. (Gianfranco Visentini) MIDDLE: Renata Artioli receives a happy hug from her husband
as Alain Delon applauds. (Gianfranco Visentini) ABOVE: Alfredo and Maria Paola Stola were two of several
automotive personalities at the event in Paris. (Alfredo Stola) 166
to which Artioli answered with great affectation, supported by Alain Delon. The answers showed that Gandini and Stanzani had been banished from Campogalliano, and that the choice for the location fell on Modena (and not Molsheim) because it was here where there were great GT specialists with many years of experience working in the region. One could not shake the feeling that the decision to build the factory in Italy was a faux pas.
“For this reason, Italy was hardly mentioned during the whole event. We were not told who and what the Society Bugatti International (Luxembourg) was, who had financed 80 percent of the project, and who is currently the Technical Director of the factory, when the international homologation would take place, how much the car would cost, etc. We were told that purchasers would have to acquire the vehicle directly from Artioli at the factory, and a committee appointed for this purpose would decide whether the interested party was ’worthy’ of having a Bugatti delivered. This has never happened before!”
The EB110 was still waiting under its cover. The time was close to 3 pm when at the lectern, Jean- Marc Borel, Michel Bugatti, heir to the Bugatti family, and Romano Artioli took centre stage, as the Italian Secretary of State Nino Cristofori spoke as a representative of his government.
Borel’s speech captured the essence of the event: “The advent of a new manufacturer in the world of the automobile is extremely rare. That this manufacturer has the name Bugatti, with the plans to revive the production of very prestigious cars makes it even more special.
“To carry out the Bugatti revival in 1991, the necessary talent and creativity could no longer be the result of a single man. It required a large team, with considerable experience and skills in many areas. The Bugatti revival is the result of a remarkable synergy that has mobilised the passions of all those who, inside and outside the company, have contributed to the success of this project. Bugatti International, whose mission is to control the various activities of the brand, as well as ensure the necessary funding, would like to pay tribute to Bugatti Automobili, who had the heavy responsibility to implement this very difficult project. The Campogalliano teams demonstrated, on this occasion, amazing enthusiasm, as well as
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