This Brand-New Bugatti Veyron Got Simon Cowell Banned by Bugatti

Photo: Darin Schnabel for RM Sotheby’s/Instagram Simon Cowell (Composite)

The reason for the supposed ban is the 2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 you see here, emerging after a 10-year absence to cross the auction block again – and hopefully make another man far happier than it ever did Cowell, its original owner. Cowell bought the car in 2008 after seeing it in the Bugatti showroom in Beverly Hills. In a later interview with Ellen DeGeneres, he said that he felt as if the car “beckoned” him even though he thought that it was too expensive. But when the friend he was with told him that he should definitely buy it, Cowell turned around and did just that.

This sounds relatable, if we were talking about a piece of chocolate and not a brand-new Bugatti that Cowell reportedly paid $1.6 million for. Then again, we’re not all gazillionaires like Cowell, sitting atop a mountain of cash and eating unicorn glitter for breakfast.

In 2013, when Cowell spoke to DeGeneres, he was still very much infatuated with the Veyron. “It’s the most beautiful car, it’s insane,” he said. Coming from a known car collector with a very educated and eclectic taste, this kind of praise speaks volumes – not that a Bugatti still needs someone singing its praise.

Cowell also joked that he hit 250 mph (402 kph) with it on Sunset Boulevard before admitting that, in the four years he’d owned it, he’d only driven it twice. So much for being completely smitten with a car, right?

The next year, Cowell sold the Veyron at a profit. At the time, it had just 1,300 miles (2,092 km) on the odo, so Cowell wasn’t really joking about driving it twice in four years. This and the decision to sell it so quickly reportedly angered Bugatti, so they added Cowell’s name to the list of famous people who would never again be allowed to buy one of their cars new.

The Veyron also became the first entry in the Bugatti certified pre-owned program. In 2014, it became a part of RM Sotheby’s Dare to Dream Collection, where it has “received expert care” as befits a legend. Sotheby’s is putting it back on the auction block on June 1, 2024, at an event in Ontario, Canada, “accompanied by maintenance invoices and copies of documents relating to Cowell’s ownership.”

If all this rumored billionaire drama means nothing to you and celebrity provenance fails to impress, there’s yet another something special about this Veyron. It comes in a “sinister triple black” paintjob over an all-black interior. It’s all-black on black, which makes it a rarity. Only a handful of Veyrons in this spec were ever made, and this is believed to be the first in that short line.