Discussions of a new supercar had taken place between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Paolo Stanzani at the end of 1984 during telephone calls and at the Turin Auto Show.

Bertone was involved in early talks for a collaboration on the exterior design but declined to continue the discussions after noting the conflict of interest that the potential majority investor, Autoexpo (and Romano Artioli), had in its distribution contracts of Ferrari cars in Germany.

Benedetti, Bevini and Pedrazzi had subsequently established their own company which was known to Ferruccio Lamborghini and Paolo Stanzani who were involved in early talks with Romano Artioli.

The choice of carbon skins sandwiching aluminium or Nomex honeycomb was not adopted by Stanzani due to the lack of experience in manufacture and repair in Italy.

[11] Several designers received copies of the chassis drawings in order to propose styling for the bodywork: Paolo Martin, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Bertone and Marcello Gandini.

Bugatti's President was not happy with Gandini's angular design language incorporating a shovel nose and flared rear wheel arches.

According to Gandini, Trucco and Stanzani, Artioli did not formally state his rejection of the original styling because he had in fact approved the 1:1 scale model.

[13] Later interviews with Giampaolo Benedini revealed more detail on the fact that Artioli had asked him to propose some alternative design ideas for the car to go into production.

Stanzani defended the choice of the aluminium-aluminium honeycomb chassis on the basis of being sufficiently stiff (in torsion and bending) while being cost-effective and repairable.

Artioli pushed for a carbon-aluminium chassis on the basis of his concern with safety and due to the likely popularity of carbon composite in cutting edge supercars of the future.

After Stanzani's departure, further meetings were held between Dario Trucco (consulting on the overall delivery of the bodywork) and Oliviero Pedrazzi and the staff from Aerospatiale (Jean-Jacques Bodu, Georges Teyssier, Roland Bignolais) in the period of 4-5 September 1990, where Aerospatiale discussed the usage of the composite material in aircraft and certain details pertaining to manufacturing and crash impact resistance.

Stanzani's original vehicle concept was technologically advanced (4WD, turbo, short wheelbase) and relatively light in terms of interior features.

Artioli on the other hand wanted the car to represent the Bugatti brand and therefore include well appointed soft seats and electrical switches, which would add several hundred kilograms to the final kerb weight of the EB 110.

Artioli had increased the capital in the venture, thereby diluting Stanzani's share, and had started to take more involvement in vehicle development compared to previously.

The car was released with many innovative technologies that were scarcely used by the automotive industry at the time, such as a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, active aerodynamics, quad turbocharging (two per cylinder bank) and an all-wheel-drive system for safer handling (especially on wet roads).

In particular the 4WD system had been a cornerstone of the Stanzani design that Ferrari was unable to productionise successfully (Forghieri had only built a prototype of the 408 4RM) and that Lamborghini would introduce only in 1993 with the Diablo VT ('Viscous Transmission').

A lighter and more powerful variant with 450 kW (612 PS; 603 hp)[2] called the EB 110 Super Sport was introduced at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show just six months after the introduction of the GT.

The Super Sport variant was lighter than the GT by 150 kg (330 lb) which was achieved by the use of carbon-fibre body panels on the exterior and in the interior.

Early in 1994, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher purchased a yellow EB 110 Super Sport, giving the company a great deal of publicity.

Dauer Racing GmbH of Nuremberg, Germany, bought the semi-finished EB 110 cars in the assembly plant plus the parts inventory through the bankruptcy trustee.

[33][2][34][35] The car uses a double wishbone suspension mounted to a chassis made from carbon fibre skins bonded to aluminium honeycomb.

[33] Auto, Motor und Sport tested a Bugatti EB 110 GT with its engine generating a power output of 412 kW (560 PS; 553 hp) and published the following results:[1] French automotive magazine Sport auto recorded a 0–100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration in 3.5 seconds, 0–1000 m time of 21.2 seconds and a top speed of 338 km/h (210 mph).

[2] Road & Track tested a Bugatti EB 110 Super Sport and published the following results:[38] The testers suspected that the acceleration numbers could be lowered considerably by using the clutch more recklessly than they did.

For a short time this was a speed record, until it was surpassed by the McLaren F1 which reached 386.4 km/h in 1998 at Ehra-Lessien, Germany, in the hands of Andy Wallace (racing driver).

Dauer Sportwagen in Nuremberg, Germany, bought the remaining stock of EB 110 parts from the Bugatti factory after the company went bankrupt in 1995.

The remaining incomplete chassis were used between 2001 and 2002 to manufacture five significantly improved cars called the Dauer EB 110 Super Sport Light Weight.

Power output was increased to 481 kW (654 PS; 645 hp), turbo lag was decreased and weight was reduced by 230 kg (507 lb) with the use of a body made from carbon fibre.

[45] In addition, the four-wheel-drive triple-differential drivetrain from the donor car has been replaced with a much simpler and lighter rear-wheel-drive transaxle, thus saving approximately 70 kg (154 lb) from the total weight.

[22] B Engineering produced 2 prototypes of the Edonis (one in gold colour and one in 'Rosso Pompeiano' red) out of the parts retained by the company of the original EB 110 when Bugatti S.p.A. went bankrupt.

A second car commissioned by wealthy pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martino Finotto also participated in the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona, but suffered a gearbox problem and did not finish.