March 29, 2024

Out post-es

Automotive rocks

Exclusive Bugatti cafe charges $88 for a shot of espresso

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And before you ask, no, you don’t get to keep the cup.


If you think $6 is outrageous for a coffee, you probably shouldn’t head to the H.R. Owen Bugatti showroom in London’s exclusive enclave of Mayfair.

It doesn’t get top billing on the Monopoly board for nothing, with a special drink at Ettore’s Espresso Bar asking £50, or around $AU88, for a coffee.

You can also buy a regular coffee in an ordinary cup, but even that costs £4 (A$7), but where’s the fun in that.



Served in a bespoke carbon-fibre cup, The Ettore Shot goes beyond a rich, aromatic bean and affords purchasers access to the lounge in the Bugatti showroom, where they can get a little closer to a $5.5 million Bugatti Chiron hypercar on display and learn some more about the famous French brand.

If you want to know the details, we’ll save you the 50-quid…

Born in 1881 in Milan, Ettore Bugatti became an industrial designer with a love of cars. In 1902 he designed a car (the Type 2) which was built in partnership with German manufacturer Lorraine-Dietrich.



As a collaboration, De Dietrich-Bugatti went on to produce sequential models up to the Type 9. In 1909, free from his contract, Bugatti designed and built the Type 10, a four-cylinder roadster, and headed to Molsheim, which was then a part of Germany.

The car still exists and is owned by a private collector.

After the First World War, Molsheim became part of eastern France, and in 1919 Bugatti exhibited three new cars at the Paris motor show, the Type 13, 20 and 22.



He campaigned the Type 13 in the first Le Mans race event in 1920, with Bugattis taking the first four positions of the Italian Grand Prix in 1921.

Further motorsport victories followed with the 1924 Bugatti Type 35 one of the most successful cars of all time, taking the Targa Florio race in Italy for five straight years between 1925 and 1929. Road cars became a focus too, with the 1927 Bugatti Royale once known as the world’s most expensive motor vehicle.

The factory in Molsheim was destroyed during World War Two, and with Ettore Bugatti’s death in 1947, the company closed in 1952.



Attempts were made to revive the brand, including a period between 1987 and 1995 when an Italian businessman, Romano Artioli, built a new factory and set about creating the Bugatti EB110, and EB112 prototype.

The company struck financial difficulty during the global recession of the late 1980s, and following a number of ownership changes, the Volkswagen Group acquired the brand in 1998 which lead to the creation of the Veyron and Chiron.

The rest, as they say, is history.



It’s a great story, and one of determination and passion, that is probably enjoyed over a great cup of coffee… just maybe a slightly less expensive one. But, this is Bugatti after all, so it wouldn’t be right to have a latte in a paper cup.

James Ward

James has been part of the digital publishing landscape in Australia since 2002 and has worked within the automotive industry since 2007. He joined CarAdvice in 2013, left in 2017 to work with BMW and then returned at the end of 2019 to spearhead the content direction of Drive.

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