In the previous episode
we talked about the first Bugatti’s ever made
and how the brand went from huge successes to bankruptcy.
In this episode we’ll feature the revival of Bugatti,
with the latest,
fastest
and most expensive Bugatti’s ever released.
This is the Evolution of Bugatti, part 2!
The Italian re-incarnation of the Bugatti brand
turned out to be a failure,
since Bugatti went bankrupt in 1995.
But then in 1998
Volkswagen purchased the Bugatti brand.
In the same year the EB 118 concept was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show.
The 18-cylinder sports car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro
and it paved the way for new Bugatti models.
It had a very powerful engine designed by Volkswagen,
which gave it a top speed of 199 miles per hour.
At the start of the 21st century,
Bugatti presented the EB 16/4 Veyron at multiple motor shows.
It was named in honor of Pierre Veyron,
who had won countless races for Bugatti,
of which the most memorable was the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1939.
In 2005 production of the Veyron started.
Bugatti went back to its roots,
by producing the car at Molsheim in France,
the same place where Ettore Bugatti started producing his first car.
The Veyron was extremely quick
and could accelerate to 60 miles per hour in just 2.4 seconds.
But even more impressive was the top speed.
It could reach a top speed of 254 miles per hour,
making it the fastest car in the world!
Once again, the production of the Bugatti Veyron
re-established the name of the brand as a luxurious supercar in the 21st century.
The car even won some awards,
including “Car of the Decade” by Top Gear.
In 2008 came the premiere of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.
It was a supercar with a removable Targa roof.
The Grand Sport edition was limited to 150 units.
The first unit was sold at an Auction by Gooding & Company for $3.2 million dollars.
One year later Bugatti unveiled four special Centenaire models of the Veyron.
These were launched to celebrate Bugatti’s 100th anniversary!
The Centenaire was launched in 4 different racing colors of the countries
that competed in motorsports in Ettore Bugatti’s day:
blue for France,
red for Italy,
green for Great Britain
and white for Germany.
In 2010 the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport was launched.
It was a faster, more powerful version
compared to previous Veyron models.
It had an increased engine power output of 1,184 horsepower,
going 268 miles per hour!
It set a Guinness World Record because
it was the fastest production sports car in the world.
In 2012 the Grand Sport Vitesse was unveiled
as an open-top version of the Super Sport.
With a top speed of 255 miles per hour,
it became the fastest production roadster ever.
In total Bugatti produced 252 units of the original Veyron model,
58 of the Grand Sport,
48 of the Super Sport
and 92 units of the Grand Sport Vitesse.
Bringing the total to 450 Veyron units in a span of over 10 years.
Fun Fact
At top speed the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
would rip through its tires within 15 minutes.
New tires cost a whopping $42,000 dollars
and to replace them you would have to pay another $69,000 dollars,
bringing the total to more than $100,000 dollars!
You could buy a Tesla Model S instead.
In 2016, Bugatti premiered the Chiron
at the Geneva International Motor Show
and called it
The engine of the Chiron was significantly upgraded
compared to the Veyron with a power output of 1,479 horsepower.
The car could blast from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 2.4 seconds,
making it the quickest car in the world.
The Bugatti Chiron had its top speed electronically limited to 261 miles per hour.
The reason for this was safety,
as none of the tires produced at that time
would be able to handle the stress when driving at top speed.
In 2017 the Chiron achieved a World record,
going from 0 to 400 to 0 kilometers per hour in only 42 seconds.
200 models of the Chiron were sold even before the first car was delivered.
The base price was $2.8 million dollars.
Bugatti unveiled a track focused version of the Chiron,
named the Chiron Sport at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show.
To keep the car competitive on the race track
it was improved aerodynamically
and the car was lighter.
The Bugatti Chiron Sport was sold for around $3.3 million dollars.
In 2019 Bugatti presented a high performance variant of the Chiron
called the Chiron Super Sport 300+.
The car was powered by a quad-turbocharged W16 engine
with 1,580 horsepower.
It became the first car in the world to attain a maximum speed
in excess of 300 miles per hour!
The 300+ is limited to just 30 examples.
A standard version of the Chiron Super Sport
is expected to be launched in 2022.
It will come with more leather in the interior and special redesigned wheels.
The Chiron Super Sport will have a limited top speed of 273 miles per hour.
In 2020 Bugatti introduced the Chiron Pur Sport.
The car is focused on handling to make the car more agile.
The transmission has been revised,
and the car is also 50 kilograms lighter than the standard Chiron.
In total only 60 units are expected to be made.
Fun fact
Did you know that the 200th Bugatti Chiron
that was produced was the “110ans Bugatti”?
It is one of several cars that have been made to
celebrate the 110th anniversary of the French brand.
One of the charms of Bugatti Cars is
that they are made only for a selected few.
To emphasize this point,
Bugatti introduced the Bugatti Divo limited edition in 2018.
The mid-engine track-focused sports car is
named after the French racing driver Albert Divo.
Although the power output was the same as the Chiron,
the Divo isn’t as fast.
It can reach a top speed of 236 miles per hour.
The Divo is a very exclusive car
and only 40 units were produced.
This made the car also very expensive,
with a price tag of $5.4 million dollars!
In 2019 the La Voiture Noire was released.
It is a modern interpretation of the Type 57 SC Atlantic.
The legendary icon designed by Jean Bugatti is
considered today as one of the greatest Bugatti’s of all time.
The La Voiture Noire is a tribute to Bugatti’s own history,
and brings speed,
technology,
luxury
and aesthetics of the Atlantic
into a new era.
When released it was the most expensive car ever built.
Only 1 unit was made,
and it will also be the last.
It was sold for…
wait for it…
$18.7 million dollars!
Making it the most expensive new car ever sold.
Fun Fact
Bugatti is said to have made a list of customers
who wanted to pay more than $12 million dollars for an unique Bugatti.
Bugatti called the first one on the list,
who was willing to pay the price without even seeing one sketch.
Imagine paying more than $12 million dollars,
without knowing what the car will look like.
Centodieci is the Italian word for one hundred and ten
and the Bugatti Centodieci was one of the models
introduced to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the brand in 2019.
It drew inspiration from the Bugatti EB110 produced in 1991.
The Centodieci can reach an electronically limited top speed of 240 miles per hour.
Only 10 units will be produced
with a price tag of about $8.9 million dollars each.
And finally, the Bugatti Bolide was released in 2021.
The Bolide’s name comes from the term “le bolide”,
which literally means
“the racing car” in French.
It has an even more powerful engine
than the Chiron Super Sport 300+
with an engine output of a massive 1,824 horsepower.
This car is absolutely insane
and the top speed is projected to be more than 311 miles per hour!
This will make it the fastest car in the world.
It is also expected to be the quickest car
going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in only 2.2 seconds!
According to the company, quote
It’s unbelievable how much Bugatti has evolved from the start in 1904
all the way to 2021.
Despite its challenges
Bugatti continues to create some of the most impressive supercars in the world
even after more than a century since the company was founded.
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