HOUSE OF BUGATTI

| Upon his retirement, the man who's shaped all modern Bugattis SI reflects upon his stellar career with the ultimate supercar brand

- John Mcllroy

WHEN any of the world's top car designers set their pencils back down on the desk for the very last time, they usually have an extensive back catalogue to look reflect on. Dozens of models, maybe a few unreleased gems that never saw the light of day, show-stopping concepts, sales figures that run into the millions...

Achim Anscheidt is different. The production numbers of vehicles created by him over the past two decades just about approach four figures. Only a couple of his concepts have ever been released in public. In fact, he has overseen the launch of just a handful of models. His total customer base is around 700 people.

And yet, as the newly retired head of design at Bugatti presented the marque's next generation (unseen by us for now, but confirmed by the company to be a successor to the Chiron) to dealers a few weeks ago, he couldn't quite hold back the tears. "I got emotional," he admits. "I was trying hard, but I didn't make it all the way through my speech; the last line got me. But I do feel it's the right moment to hand over."

The son of a multiple motorcycling champion, Anscheidt came up through design studios in the United States before joining VW's advanced-design operations in Barcelona and Berlin. By the time he was installed as Bugatti design chief in 2004, the Veyron - an astonishing technical achievement, with its 8.0-litre W16 engine, four turbochargers, 10 radiators, 1,001 PS (987bhp) and 250mph-plus top speed - was pretty much finalised, thanks to the legendarily ambitious engineering brief handed down by VW Group chief Dr Ferdinand Piëch, and the design work of Jozef Kaban.

The team had been so focused on making the Veyron happen, however, that Anscheidt quickly had to get to work on a plan for where Bugatti could be taken in the years that followed. The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse (targa top) and Veyron Super Sport, which set a new top-speed record of 268mph, were part of his plan.