From the early motorsport successes of the Bugatti Type 35 to the latest Chiron, ‘French Racing Blue’ has been a core part of the Bugatti identity and a way of life: ‘La Vie en Bleu’. It became a symbol of the dominant Bugatti performances at motorsport events all over the world, and has since come to represent the very best of French engineering, innovation and design. As Bugatti enters an all-new era, ‘French Racing Blue’ will once again be reimagined.

Achim Anscheidt, Design Director of Bugatti, said: “French Racing Blue means passion, it means motorsport pedigree and it means patriotism. Early French racing cars, including many of the all-conquering Bugatti Type 35 models, wore a vibrant shade of blue instantly recognisable to crowds as they roared past at more than 100 mph.”

But just as the line-up has evolved throughout the years, so too has this iconic colour. Legend has it that Ettore Bugatti’s wife, Barbara, was fond of smoking Gauloises cigarettes, in their light blue packaging, and this might have become the inspiration for the early shade of ‘French Racing Blue’.

The early 1920s pre-war Bugattis used a very light turquoise hue that turned into a more saturated neutral tone of darker blue by the mid 20s. Later, in the 1930s, during the era of Jean Bugatti, the two tone application became very popular on Touring and racecars, where the vibrant blue was paired with a light turquoise and became the identifying trademark of the Le Mans-winning Type 57 Tanks. So tightly connected were the Bugattis and the shades of blue that over time, ‘French Racing Blue’ would informally become known as ‘Bugatti Blue’.

When the Bugatti brand was reinvented with the Veyron in the early 2000s, the design team began their search for a shade of ‘French Racing Blue’ for the very latest era of Bugatti. In 2007, having painstakingly analysed the many shades of blue used since the company was founded in 1909, Bugatti released its modern interpretations of the colour for the reinvention of the brand under Volkswagen ownership. A warmer and a colder blue was defined, a neutral blue and – important for the new carbon fibre era of Bugatti – a blue-tinted carbon.

The process of creating this colour was the result of hundreds of hours of research, drawing inspiration from the early era of Bugatti. But with original genuine cars of the early pioneering Bugattis on hand, it was possible to find original paint shades on carefully preserved examples of these legends at top Concours d’Elegance events like Pebble Beach or Villa d’Este. Then, they needed to be reinvented for modern quality standards and tastes.

As Bugatti embarks upon a new era as a part of the joint company Bugatti Rimac, the latest reinvention of ‘French Racing Blue’ and the definition of a new ‘Bugatti Blue’ is already being considered as a core part of the brand’s future identity.

Bugatti's 'Life in Blue'