Bugatti is continuing to treat the W16 Mistral like the ultimate farewell canvas, and the newest one-off proves just how far the brand will go when a client wants something truly singular. Dubbed the W16 Mistral “La Perle Rare,” this open-top hypercar is a Sur Mesure commission that leans hard into artistry and heritage while still reminding everyone that the W16 era is all about big performance wrapped in big presence.

The story behind La Perle Rare reportedly began at Pebble Beach in August 2023, where Bugatti’s Sur Mesure and Individualization team first connected with the client. From there, the direction centered on elegance and flowing, sculptural lines, with the goal of enhancing the Mistral’s shape instead of overpowering it. It is the kind of project where the theme has to feel natural on the car, not like a wrap or a quick color change.

The headline feature is the paintwork, inspired by Bugatti’s “Vagues de Lumière” approach that plays with how light moves across the body. After exploring earlier ideas, the spec evolved toward a two-tone composition with contrasting white tones, one warm and one cooler, both sprinkled with bright metallic flake. The end result is said to include two bespoke colors created specifically for this car: a warm, gold-infused hue draped over the upper surfaces and a refined warm white for the lower body, creating a clean separation that feels almost like a horizon line.

That separation is not just a design sketch brought to life with a simple stripe kit. Bugatti describes an extremely involved process of hand taping, masking, and painting that took hundreds of hours to get the white and gold dividing lines just right. Even the diamond-cut wheels were finished with a custom paint mixture intended to match the gold-and-white interplay on the body, tying the whole exterior together so it catches light from every angle.

Inside, the theme continues with a cabin that sounds more like a jewelry display case than a typical hypercar cockpit. The interior carbon pieces are painted white, while the door panels carry alternating white and warm gold linework that follows the sculpted surfaces. Bugatti also highlights warm ambient lighting to emphasize the pearl-like glow, along with machined and polished aluminum trim throughout that mirrors the reflective idea established outside.

The personal touches are what make it feel truly one-of-one, right down to the La Perle Rare signature rendered in the handwriting of Bugatti’s Sur Mesure manager, appearing as stitched details, engravings, and even a painted signature beneath the rear wing. There’s also a nod to brand heritage with Rembrandt Bugatti’s Dancing Elephant motif echoed in the gear selector casing and on the body panels behind the front wheels. And this is the bigger point: Bugatti keeps using the W16 Mistral platform to create these deeply customized, one-off variations before it is all said and done, giving the W16 era a final run that feels less like a curtain call and more like an art exhibition on wheels.