A 2014 Bugatti Veyron with 3,766 kilometers on the odometer accounted for more than a quarter of everything RM Sotheby's sold in Zurich on September 26. The Grand Sport Vitesse "Jean-Pierre Wimille," lot 113, brought CHF 4,505,000, comfortably more than $5 million, in a sale that grossed CHF 16,302,075.RM Sotheby's results release for the September 26 sale at the Park Hyatt Zurich calls it "a world record auction price." A record for what, exactly? The release doesn't say. There is no category named (Veyron, Grand Sport Vitesse, modern Bugatti), no previous record holder, and no line on whether the figure includes buyer's premium. The lot page never showed a published estimate.A 1991 Ferrari F40 finished second at CHF 3,323,750. A 2023 Ferrari 812 Competizione A (CHF 1,850,000) and the ex-René Arnoux Lamborghini Miura P400 S (CHF 1,805,000) followed. The same catalogue carried the wedge-shaped Aston Martin estate we wrote about earlier this month.The Wimille Legend beside a Type 57G Tank at its August 2013 debut at The Quail. Photo: Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., manufacturer press image.One of threeBugatti built the car for "Les Légendes de Bugatti," a series it announced in July 2013: six editions of the Grand Sport Vitesse, three cars each, 18 in all. Wimille was the first, unveiled at The Quail during Monterey Car Week on August 16, 2013. In February 2014, Bugatti said all nine cars from the first three editions had sold, at about €2.2 million net each.The trim comes from Wimille's 1937 Le Mans win in the Type 57G Tank, shared with Roger Benoist over 3,287.938 km. Bugatti's launch release lists Bleu Wimille paint over dark blue exposed carbon, a silver outline of the Circuit de la Sarthe under the rear wing, his signature lasered into the fuel and oil caps and stitched into the headrests, and blue, white and red thread on the steering wheel and shifter. Grand Sport Vitesses with one-off finishes still turn up; Fernando Alonso's machined-aluminum car was last week's.Wimille won Le Mans again in 1939, in a Type 57C Tank. His co-driver that year was Pierre Veyron, according to Bugatti's own history of the name. So the record Veyron is a tribute to the man who shared Veyron's winning car.The Type 57G Tank, winner at Le Mans in 1937 with Wimille and Roger Benoist. Photo: Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., manufacturer press image.What the listing saysChassis VF9SV25244M795063 was delivered new in Dubai on May 21, 2014. Bugatti Dubai serviced it in May 2016 at 655 km and in October 2017 at 2,553 km. After that, RM's description says only that it passed through owners in Germany and Switzerland. No service after 2017 is listed, and the car has covered about 1,200 km in the nine years since. The sale includes the owner's guides and service book, which would show whatever the description leaves out. We've covered how Bugatti is dealing with the Veyron's worst ownership headache.RM's copy gives the top speed as 410 km/h. Bugatti's figure for the Grand Sport Vitesse, set in April 2013 as the open-top production car record, is 408.84 km/h.The Swiss import bondThe listing states the car entered Switzerland on a temporary import bond, which the buyer must cancel either by exporting it or by paying Swiss VAT and import duties. At the standard 8.1 percent rate, VAT alone on CHF 4,505,000 comes to roughly CHF 365,000. A buyer who keeps the car in the country pays that on top of the sale price.Two other Wimille Legends exist. RM's release doesn't say who bought this one or where it is going, and the next public price for the edition will come only when one of the other two is consigned.With the same money on the table in Zurich, would you have taken the one-of-three Wimille Veyron, or the F40 from the same sale and CHF 1.18 million in change?Sources: RM Sotheby's Zurich results release and lot 113 listing (September 2026); Bugatti Automobiles press releases of July 24, 2013, August 16, 2013 and February 27, 2014; Bugatti newsroom history of the Veyron name. Photos: Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.⚡ Read the full article on Backfire News
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