Every marque knows there’s money to be made selling objects of speed, but there’s also money to be made from merchandising an image. Just look at Ferrari’s incredibly expensive line of clothes and accessories, BMW’s M cologne, or um, Renault’s Twingo-themed pinball machine. It’s effectively a way of making people pay to advertise for you, and it’s resulted in some very weird stuff over the years. Take the latest Bugatti offering, for example. It’s a television, but not just any television.
The concept of a luxury TV is a bit silly given how you can now buy a TV with a 4K screen the size of a Smart Fortwo’s wheelbase for about the cost of a slightly rusty 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt SS. Granted, at that price, you’re looking at a device loaded with bloatware, but still. Over the past 25 years, big televisions have gone from a luxury to something you inherit when your roommate moves out. Maybe not televisions this big though.
Because size seems to be everything for this sort of clientele, the smaller Bugatti TV features a 110-inch screen, while the larger one features a 137-inch screen. They might not be legally classified as walls, but they’re pretty close in practice. Obviously, Bugatti doesn’t make the TVs itself, which is why the following weirdness is so interesting.
On first glance, this doesn’t look like a television. A fancy chest of drawers, perhaps, but that’s about it. Bugatti claims the TV’s opaque form is “inspired by the iconic side profile – the iconic ‘C-line’ – of all legendary Bugatti cars.” Maybe sort of, if you squint. There’s definitely a contour here, but it’s more like the rising character line down the flank of any generic 2010s sedan than anything else. Still, it’s all silver and carbon fiber, but where does the screen come from? Well, the actual manufacturer of the TV—Austrian firm C Seed—has a trick up its sleeve.
Yep, it’s supposed to tip up like that, and in fact does so all on its own. Best to clear off anything you put on it beforehand, coasters and cats and what have you. You know the whole “billionaire doors” thing? This is a billionaire TV. Oh, and it’s not done yet. Wait until you see the next phase of its transformation.
Well, that’s certainly different. Perfect for someone who’s always wanted something that looks like a 5G tower in their lounge. If you’re going to hide this much screen, panels of micro LED displays that come together to form one continuous surface is a bit more elegant than pretending your TV is a painting, and C Seed allegedly’s found a way to make the seams virtually invisible.
Presto, one television with a Bugatti logo. The whole transformation takes just 45 seconds, and the deployed television even comes with built-in speakers. Strange, because someone shopping in this echelon probably has a built-in surround sound system or Nautilus stacks or something similarly high-end. Ah yeah, price. A regular 137-inch C Seed TV starts at around $200,000, so don’t be surprised if this one costs even more thanks to its Bugatti branding. Which brings us back to the original problem: With decent TVs being cheap, why spend this much on one when you could order one from Costco or Amazon and spend the savings on another supercar? Answers on a postcard, please.
Top graphic image: Bugatti
“Well, the actual manufacturer of the TV—Austrian firm C Seed—has a trick up its sleeve.”
Them Austrians should stick with making what they are known for–failed artists.
Cool. After a week I’d lose my damn mind having to wait 45 seconds for my tv to unfold.
*after the 3rd time. So, probably less than a week.
Carlo Bugatti and Rembrandt Bugatti (Ettore’s father and brother, respectively) must be absolutely over the moon about this.
Carlo was literally a furniture designer.
(My pal and I found this out when we went to a Bugatti exhibit in Cleveland, only to find Beaux Arts furniture everywhere. Luckily the automobile museum is right across the street from the fine arts museum.)
I am extremely conflicted – I think that TV is epically cool and epically stupid in equal measure. I guess if you have the net worth of a medium-sized island nation, why not have this for the den in your villain’s lair?
Dang! I have a $4200 limit on my Best Buy card. Sorry, Geeks.
Not interested in a spendy bespoke tv cabinet with guts made of unobtainium. The thing looks like TARS or CASE from Interstellar.
For that kind of cash I can buy a higher end Sony or Samsung, a nice late 80’s Mercedes’ W124 E300 and spend the rest restoring the Mercedes in a nice jade green with tan interior, an turbo LS swap with 8HP70 new electronicals, brakes and suspension bits.
Anybody else find it ironic that this Bugatti TV is clearly showing an ad for Jaguar?
you mean they went with the transforming junk instead of the newer hotness of the TV screen unrolling from the top like a weird throwback projector screen?
how gauche
What are we peasants? Tv screen should be mounted on automated robots so it can move with you as you walk in your villain lair.
This is a stupid idea. No guy is going to buy a television that big once he realizes how big a porn penis is going to look against his average 5 inches.
Not if you sit really far away.
This isn’t really a big TV, but rather four small TVs in a trenchcoat.
…I don’t want to wait 45 seconds for my TV to dramatically unfold from its sarcophagus like it’s the solar panels on a satellite. If I push the button, it means I want to Watch TV Nooooooowwww…
This is needlessly complicated, I just want to go back to having TVs built into fine wood cabinets with doors that can be closed over the screen when not in use, can we just have that? Sick of the black plastic rectangle dominating the room
I like the idea of some TVs that go into a picture frame mode when off, but I’ve read that the execution makes the whole thing fall flat a bit.
I think just go back to a 50s/60s console arrangement, you’d be able to build in some decent speakers, too.
I miss big ol’ speakers that aren’t sound bars. Sound bars are so limiting in ways to position them.
I had to hand build my current TV console because they just don’t make anything good. It’s all either small tables or giant entertainment centers these days.
I really wanted one until I actually demo’d a couple. They work great for displaying art, the matt screen is quite convincing, but are generally otherwise lousy TVs for a TON of money. I find that my regular old big-azz LG TV works “good enough” displaying art, and much better as a TV. Roku Backgrounds has some great content for free, and a friend hand-made me a walnut frame for the TV.
Isn’t needlessly complicated pretty much the main brand value of Bugatti? Seems completely on-point.
I just have an app on my Roku that displays Monet paintings on my TV when it’s not being a TV, and a friend made a walnut picture frame for the TV. Works great for free. What I really want is a vertical projector and a retractable screen so the whole thing just disappears, but that costs real money.
Ooooh – a place to put my glass grapes – finally!
Great, this is gonna make things annoying when word spreads around…
Ferrari: Bugatti made a TV? Let’s make the most perfectly function, highest resolution experience in a slim, minimalist package!
Lamborghini: Let’s make a TV that does what the Ferrari one does, but louder and more Italian.
Volvo: Let’s make a TV that won’t hurt anyone if it falls on them!
Saab: Let’s make a faucet!
Cadillac: Let’s make a TV that is covered in leather and automatically adjusts to the distance of your eyes and looks like a huge polygon!
Chrysler: Let’s make a TV that plays Fast & Furious movies as loud as possible and has a built-in beer cooler and shoot fireworks and shit.
Chevrolet: Let’s make a TV that will last a really long time but always have a shitty picture.
Toyota: The TV’s are ready. They are perfect in every way. Our customers have already bought them and will use them forever.
Tesla: Our TV is the best TV because it can also power your house and we launched one into the moon and it knows what you’re thinking already and ignore that story about it killing that dude because he was using it wrong.
Citroen: The cool thing about our TVs is that the screen faces the floor and you lay under it to watch.
Jeep: Our TV has a shelf for your ducks!
…WE REMEMBER NOW!!! THAT’S what we meant to build!
JOHNNY !!! MARC !!! A WORD ???
Morgan: Wot’s a TV?
Rivian: Our TV is operated by voice commands only, and uses AI to figure out what you want to watch, rather than what you ask it to play.
Chevy Truck Division: Our TV can be configured in six different shapes, but the bottom is still too far from the floor.
No no. Instead of a physical remote there’s a virtual one on the screen.
Mercedes-Benz: Our TV blends perfectly with your décor by being disguised as a Billy Bass.
Slate: Our TV is a plain flat panel with a 3’ power cord and one HDMI jack. Stand extra. Coax input extra. RGB input extra. 6’ or 9’ power cords extra. Remote extra. Costs the same as an LG.
BMW: Our TV is high performance and flashy but don’t call it ugly! Remote control access requires a monthly subscription.
As does increasing volume and brightness beyond 30%
Lamborghini: Our TV sometimes and without warning will become a fireplace. Fire extinguisher not included.
the Tesla TV also doesn’t have a screen, and it’s got autopilot for a monthly subscription that choses what you were gonna want to watch anyway.
in a year they offer the option to add a screen for a $10,000 “deposit”, but it’s not ready yet.
I was thinking no remote either, you have to get up and touch it to operate it.
Tesla Truck Division: Our TV fits in perfectly with all your kitchen appliances. Comes with keycard to open the front cover panel every time you want to watch.
Vinfast: Our TV sucks pretty bad, but it also has a terrible warranty!
Fisker: Our TV is actually pretty good, but if you need work you’ll have to take it to one guy in New Jersey.
Lexus: We paired a more comfortable remote with the Toyota TV with an upgraded bezel. It’ll also last forever.
Pontiac: Do you think anyone will notice that we just put a bird on Chevy’s TV?
Lotus: Lightest, most perfect TV ever! It will fail exactly when your movie ends.
VW: Our remote only has capacitive touch buttons and doesn’t light up in the dark
RAM: Our TV has STARS, and STRIPES, and GUNS, and is POWERED BY A V8 *Tim the Toolman grunts*
Porsche: If you want, we can wrap your TV in leather, paint match the remote and have leather buttons on it.
Ram: Our TV has hemispherical pixels because they’re better, we swear.
You forgot that with the Tesla TV it will either spontaneously shatter or random bits of the frame will fall off onto the floor.
And your new Tesla TV is available for pre-order now*!
Delivery will be next year.
Sometime next year.
Definitely, maybe next year.
(*Deposits Are Non-refundable)
Sometimes the volume will increase to 100% for no reason.
Fisker: we’ve listened to customer feedback about the image being upside down and the vibration issues and will have an OTA software update by mid Q3.
Tesla: our TV doesn’t have panel gaps, we swear!
And it’s not rust, it’s patina. We wanted it to look that way.
And yes we’re aware of the razor sharp edges, that’s part of the design.
The different surfaces are supposed to be different shades of grey, and rippled (some of them)!
Shit looks like a hotel room air conditioner
Oh man I walked into the Bugatti Home showroom/event either last year in Milan or the year before during Design Week… it was something. The stuff is just heinously expensive, but with very little to actually consider for real design. Gross!
I’m sorry but if I’m paying some figure north of 200 grand for a TV, the house it’s in had better be included in the deal.
Hey if you think customer support for a Bugatti sucks when it breaks down just think how long you have to wait for them to fix the TV.
Takes time flying the techs from Molsheim
These things exist as ways to flaunt wealth. Anyone with that k8ndcof money can hide a TV the old fashioned way by having it in a different room. I had a living room with no TV and a family room with a TV, in a mid 70s 3 bedroom ranch
All that size and then probably streaming some compressed crap to it.
It’s really funny how it shows this high end elegant scene. When, in reality, it’ll be YouTube.
The only interesting thing about this that I see is that the EB logo remains upright as the rest tilts. Otherwise, it’s just another example of “I have more money than I’ll ever know what to do with”
But can it also double as a guillotine to use on whoever buys one after the uprising?
Maybe use it on people who buy it before the uprising. People who buy it after the uprising are probably getting it on a discount due to all the blood stains.
Wow – I was expecting to see one of the roll-up OLED screens such as LG offers…
…but this is something entirely different.
While it’s definitely larger, it’s perhaps not better.
Why would anyone pay that kind of money for something that is obsolete in a year?
People who spend $200K on TVs don’t concern themselves with such matters.
By then they’ll be ready to upgrade. Look for this at goodwill for $79.
I always find the hiding of TV to be sort of weird, especially in an environment like this where basically every surface looks like a variation of black mirror. Back in the 70s where there were (presumably) criminal penalties for anything to appear to be anything other than wood? Ok sure.
I never would have thought that Bugatti would be the first manufacturer to eliminate cars from its screens.
C’mon, Mercedes – this is just begging for a COTD!
Thanks for the C-Seed manufacturer name, cause I want to know what the Bugatti name up pricing is costing over the original.
Self reply, but c-seed has been making this TV since 2022. So definitely not new. Back then it cost $184k, so I imagine it will be closer to $500k for the Bugatti version
“Well, the actual manufacturer of the TV—Austrian firm C Seed—has a trick up its sleeve.”
Yeah. I re-read that and edited it. But it looks like Porsche already did this as well with this brand. And theirs was $400k
Probably some VAG involved with the ownership of C Seed somewhere…..
Genuinely curious to know the sales figures on these. I know there are plenty of idiots with too much money but still I’d be shocked if they sold more than a dozen. I wonder if the point is to get ppl like us all hot & bothered and talking about these brands.
The real connoisseur would have one of each.