Romano Artioli

Romano Artioli (born 1932) is an Italian entrepreneur and one-time owner of Bugatti and Lotus automobile makers.

Artioli was born in Moglia in the Province of Mantua, and raised in Bolzano where in the 1980s he ran one of the largest Ferrari dealerships in the world, selling in northern Italy and southern Germany. He also imported Japanese cars, owning Autoexpò which in 1982 became the first Italian importer of Suzuki.

He had a large collection of Bugatti automobiles, and was encouraged by Ferruccio Lamborghini and Paolo Stanzani to establish Bugatti International, a holding company that bought the Bugatti trademark name in 1987. Artioli became chairman of Bugatti Automobilie S.p.A., which made the Bugatti EB110 between 1991 and 1995. In 1993, his wife Renata Kettmeir formed the Bolzano-based Ettore Bugatti luxury item maker, also using the Bugatti "EB" logo. Their involvement ended in September 1995 due to bankruptcy, and the company was eventually bought by Volkswagen in April 1998. Prior to the sale to Volkswagen, private equity Investor CVC Ventures (a Citibank company) attempted a purchase of Bugatti via UK corporate finance advisor Anglo American Ventures however the £100m deal failed at due diligence stage.