Bugatti Veyron Available in 'Rape Yellow'

(Dec. 16) -- It's starting to trend on Twitter and Google News: One of the world's most expensive and powerful cars, the Bugatti Veyron, is available in "rape yellow."

Of course this raises the question: Why would Bugatti offer such a distasteful color option?

Well, the answer is, it's not actually distasteful at all but a very common color. It's just that we Americans aren't used to hearing the name.

www.bugatti.com

A screen shot shows the "rape yellow" color choice for the Bugati Veyron on Bugatti.com.

Tim O'Hara, general manager of O'Gara Coach Co. in Beverly Hills, Calif. -- one of only seven authorized Bugatti dealerships in the United States -- explained the situation to AOL News.

"The online configuration utility on Bugatti.com actually isn't used by any of our clients," O'Hara explained.

"Each and every Bugatti is bespoke -- we start from a CAD wireframe and customize it completely to the buyer's specifications," O'Hara told AOL News. "In fact, more than half our clients actually travel to the factory in France to finish the order."

O'Hara explained that there are options and configurations that aren't in the online configurator -- at least 60 custom colors and hundreds of custom options "that won't ever be in the online tool."

In fact, after calling four of the seven Bugatti dealerships in the United States, AOL News confirmed that the color rape yellow doesn't even appear in the dealership's configuration tools or books.

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However, when you visit Bugatti.com, you'll see that for the options on the exterior engine components, rape yellow is indeed an option. But it's not pronounced in the fashion that the word we Americans associate with a terrible violation is.

The confusion comes from the source of the color -- Brassica napus, also known as the rapeseed flower. The name is pronounced "ra" (as in "Ra, the Egyptian god") and "pay" (as in "pay in cash"). The color is quite commonly referenced in Europe, especially in romantic languages such as French and Spanish. In fact, art company Dick Blick offers a spray paint in the same hue.

"It's probable that the 'seed' portion of the word 'rapeseed' was left off for space during the translation process," O'Hara explained. And in defense of the French company, rape jaune (yellow) is a fairly common color in France, much like teal or mauve in English.

"It's just a simple translation error."