Azerbaijan isn’t necessarily the first place one thinks of when picturing dream locales to drive a Bugatti in, but Bugatti sure does. The French hypercar brand has just opened their largest showroom ever in the capital city of Baku. Bugatti says the decision is strategic, not just serving an area with some of the wealthiest hypercar fans but also serving as a bridge between important European and Middle Eastern markets. Accordingly, the showroom was launched with Bugatti’s halo car, the $4 million Tourbillon, taking pride of place centerstage.
Notably, the United States emerged as Bugatti’s largest single market way back in 2021, overtaking Europe in the process. Since Bugatti doesn’t release sales numbers like a typical car manufacturer, guessing whether that’s still the case is a tough call.
Back then, Bugatti had revealed that 70 percent of its orders were from customers new to the brand, showing just how important an active dealer network in North America was.
Considering the number of wealthy people in Azerbaijan rose 444 percent from 2005 to nearly a decade back (as per a 2016 wealth report), including millionaires and multimillionaires, Bugatti definitely seems to be onto something.
Azerbaijan sits on massive oil reserves, just as well since Bugatti hypercars aren’t exactly known to be fuel efficient. The 1,500 horsepower Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, for example, is rated at just 8mpg. It’s a different question altogether as to how often these wealthy car collectors would actually drive their possessions, though.
