At the age of 12, Michel Perridon was washing cars. Decades later, the Dutch entrepreneur was handed the keys to a one-off Bugatti worth around $20 million by Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti Rimac. The remarkable handover of the bespoke Bugatti Brouillard took place at the Chantilly Arts & Élégance Richard Mille in France, marking the latest chapter in Perridon’s extraordinary relationship with the marque. Perridon’s story is not exactly a conventional rags-to-riches tale, since he is a second-generation entrepreneur who transformed his family’s small import business into a global consumer technology company. Yet that childhood fascination with cars eventually helped fuel one of the world’s most remarkable private Bugatti collections. Now, the Brouillard has become its newest and arguably most exclusive addition.
A Bugatti built for one collector
The Brouillard is the first creation from Bugatti’s new Programme Solitaire, an ultra-exclusive coachbuilding arm based at the company’s design headquarters in Berlin. Bugatti plans to build a maximum of two Solitaire cars per year, putting the Brouillard in an entirely different league of exclusivity. Its 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 produces 1,600 PS (1578 hp), with all-wheel drive, making it the ultimate evolution of Bugatti’s W16 program after roughly two decades of development. Although it shares its mechanical lineage with the Mistral, not a single exterior panel is shared between the two cars, according to design director Frank Heyl. The Brouillard is also deliberately a coupe, rather than another roadster, reinforcing its one-off character. Its design combines twin aluminum roof scoops inspired by the Veyron, a fixed ducktail wing recalling the Chiron Profilée, X-shaped Mistral taillights and a full glass canopy.
The car takes its name from Ettore Bugatti’s favorite horse, a white-and-gray thoroughbred that was apparently able to open its own stable door using a mechanism Ettore had designed for him. That equestrian influence is carried into the cabin through tartan fabrics inspired by riding equipment and embroidered horse motifs on the doors and seat backs. Tartan grip sections on the steering wheel are a Bugatti first, while green-tinted carbon fiber and aluminum accents add to the bespoke interior.
The seats were shaped to Perridon’s measurements and feature a custom leather patch layout. Even the gearshifter is a miniature work of art, machined from a single block of aluminum and incorporating a glass insert containing a handcrafted sculpture of Brouillard. The green exterior color intentionally breaks from Bugatti’s traditional racing blue, drawing inspiration from the pastures where horses graze, while a darker lower section makes the car appear lower and longer.
Centerpiece of the Perridon Collection
The Brouillard might become the centerpiece of Perridon’s garage, but it is hardly the first extraordinary Bugatti he owns. The millionaire is widely regarded as the world’s largest private Bugatti collector, with 32 cars valued at roughly $90 million, including 28 pre-war examples built between 1912 and 1947. The collection includes a Type 30, chassis 442, one of the oldest surviving Bugattis, along with a Type 35C, Type 32 “Tank” aerodynamic prototype, and Type 57G Le Mans car. It also contains a rare Type 55, an EB110 Super Sport, Veyron Grand Sport and Grand Sport Vitesse, multiple Chirons including the Super Sport 300+, and a Tourbillon. Among the more unusual entries is a Type 57 Atalante Fastback formerly owned by Nicolas Cage.
Perridon’s collection goes far beyond automobiles. It features Carlo Bugatti furniture, Rembrandt Bugatti animal bronzes and more than 1,000 pieces of memorabilia, watches and art objects. For years, the collection was kept inside an anonymous industrial building in Rotterdam, away from public view, until a video tour emerged in 2026. He now plans to turn the collection into the Perridon Experience, a museum project for which no opening date has yet been announced. The man who owns it started earning at 12, washing cars for money, and by his own telling has never quite stopped measuring himself against that boy. His wealth came from expanding his family’s import business into a global technology company selling mice, keyboards, webcams, gaming accessories and smart-home products in more than 50 countries. Quote 500 estimated his wealth at approximately €384 million (more than $440 million) in 2024, while he and his brother own roughly 190 residential properties in Rotterdam. Perridon also owns a Rimac Nevera, personally handed over by Mate Rimac at his Rotterdam estate, making the new Brouillard the second car Rimac has now personally delivered to him.
