The man behind the Bugatti EB110
It is time to tell the true story of the Bugatti EB110; we will do this in several chapters. The aim is to remove Romano Artioli from the pedestal on which he has erected a monument to himself that, with the best will in the world, he does not deserve. We have known for a long time that the whole story as told by Romano Artioli is not true in this form, but now a book has finally been published that supports our own research, long conversations with contemporary witnesses and other documents – we therefore highly recommend “Bugatti – the true story of the EB110” by Dario Trucco, published by Minerva in 2023. We will keep this somewhat brief and not exclusively to the book, there are still many detours and deviations to report, but honour is finally due to whom the honour for the Bugatti EB110 really belongs: Paolo Stanzani.
Paolo Stanzani, born on 20 July 1936 in Bologna, belonged to a very close circle in the early years of Lamborghini. He was already on board shortly after the brand was founded in 1963, initially as an assistant to Giampaolo Dallara just after completing his studies, and shortly afterwards on an equal footing with the man without whom Lamborghini would never have existed. As technical director, Stanzani was responsible, together with Dallara, for pretty much every Lambo legend, from the 350 GT to the Islero, the Miura, the Espada and the Countach. Like Dallara and Giotto Bizzarrini, the mechanical engineer, who had studied at the University of Bologna, can be regarded as one of those Italian automotive universal geniuses who had more than a little knowledge of various aspects: mechanics, chassis, aerodynamics, design, overall constructions.
After Ferruccio Lamborghini had to sell his company in 1972, Stanzani stayed on until 1975, but the two men remained close friends and occasionally talked about new projects; in the mid-1980s they considered designing a light off-road vehicle in the style of the Suzuki Santana (SJ410) together; Nuccio Bertone was still on board at the time. This also brought them into contact with the Suzuki importer in Italy at the time, Autoexpo, which was managed by Giancarlo Artioli. During these initial discussions, his smug little brother Romano soon came up with the idea of producing a large Gran Turismo instead of a small off-road vehicle, with which Lamborghini and Stanzani had already been successful. The name Bugatti was mentioned for the first time – and Bertone withdrew from the project. Lamborghini – who would have preferred to turn his name into money – and Stanzani were also sceptical, but saw the financial opportunities that Autoexpo had to offer. Their parent company FISICO, which was headed by Giancarlo Artioli, was one of the most successful Ferrari dealers in the world and was also very strong in southern Germany, selling around 20,000 Suzuki a year in Italy, and had also secured the import rights to Hyundai and Subaru.
In 1986, the “Bugatti” project began to take shape. Stanzani, who had always been a sports car enthusiast, made initial sketches and plans. And because Romano Artioli had a big mouth but otherwise little knowledge, Stanzani introduced him to his old friend, the Frenchman Jean-Marc Borel, who had excellent relations in the car industry and with the French government. The idea was to buy the Bugatti name rights, which Romano Artioli had tried to do once before but was chased away in disgrace because he had no business plan whatsoever. Stanzani, who was also well known in France because he had worked for Renault, drew up such a plan, Borel presented it to the French Minister of the Interior, who was responsible for Bugatti via the Messier-Hispano-Bugatti conglomerate – and an agreement was reached. On 11 May 1987, the French gave their consent to sell the Bugatti name rights for 7.5 million French francs (the equivalent of around 500,000 francs/euros today). This amount was paid via Autoexpo GmbH, a German subsidiary of FISICO; Giancarlo Artioli was not informed of this deal. And Ferruccio Lamborghini also pulled out.
Now things are getting a bit weird. In June 1987, Romano Artioli founded Bugatti International in Luxembourg, a new company consisting of Jean-Marc Borel, Michel Bugatti (the youngest son of Ettore Bugatti, whom Romano Artioli had once met at a campsite) and many different English companies, all founded by Romano Artioli. In October 1987, Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. was founded, in which Bugatti International held 65 per cent – and Paolo Stanzani 35 per cent. All these transactions took place without the knowledge of Giancarlo Artioli – who died tragically on 2 November 1987 after an accident involving a Jaguar that had been lent to him by his brother Romano. The reason for the tyre failure that led to this accident could – astonishingly? – could never be clarified. But after the death of his older, much more enterprising and, above all, integer brother, all doors were open to Romano Artioli, who now had power and, above all, a lot of money at his disposal.
Let us first continue with the “political” situation: Stanzani had gathered a great team around him, Pedrazzi, Bevini, Benedetti, all of whom had already worked with him at Lamborghini and had founded their own design office, Tecnostile in Modena. Oliviero Pedrazzi in particular, who had just pulled a full shoe out of the ill-fated Cizeta-Moroder project, was an important man for Stanzani as an engine designer. Because Stanzani – and certainly not Romano Artioli – had very clear ideas of a vehicle the likes of which the world had never seen before: all-wheel drive, 3.5-litre V12 with four turbos and five valves per cylinder. At least in the beginning, his position as “Amministratore Unico” was not questioned, but Artioli had created a dodgy construct for himself with Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. – Stanzani’s shares became worth less and less through constant capital increases. But he realised this far too late. By the time he wanted to defend himself and was ready to exercise his pre-emptive rights, Artioli had already put a new “Board of Directors” in front of him – on 13 July 1990, Paolo Stanzani was dismissed without notice, stripped of all his titles, honours, plans and shares (even his technical diary was withheld). After all, Romano Artioli had what he wanted from Stanzani: a virtually finished car.
But the Bugatti 035, as it was still called at the time, was simply not the vehicle that Romano Artioli wanted. Technically it was, the Stanzani/Pedrazzi drive was a masterpiece, but someone had told Artioli that “his” sports car had to have a carbon monocoque (instead of the “honeycomb” construction Stanzani had envisaged in Formula 1); this was one of the changes to the Stanzani design that later broke the back of the Bugatti EB110. And Marcello Gandini, who had drawn the first sketches for the Bugatti, also urgently needed to be “eradicated”, as the designer was too close to Stanzani and Lamborghini. Because what Gandini had designed according to Stanzani’s specifications was an absolutely uncompromising machine (picture above), clearly visible at the rear with two “hoovers” (Stanzani wanted to utilise the “ground effect”), and later also with covered rear wheels. After Stanzani was sacked, Gandini was asked to rework his design, which he did, albeit with little motivation. Giampaolo Benedini, not only an architect but above all Romano Artioli’s cousin, took over – “family ties” took on a completely different meaning. As with Stanzani, Artioli later tried to extract Gandini’s influence from “his” Bugatti history. But he didn’t want a Bugatti, he wanted an Artioli.
What Romano Artioli then presented to the world on 14 September 1991 as the Bugatti EB110 was of course still the super sports car that Paolo Stanzani had conceived and designed. But Romano Artioli did everything wrong that could be done between his dismissal and the start of series production. We will take a closer look at what else Artioli did, especially financially, at a later date. For now, let’s take a moment to remember Paolo Stanzani, who passed away on 18 January 2017. After that, you can still look for some nice stories in our archive.
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