The big question for Bugatti is: What comes after the Veyron? Seriously, there isn't much that could top the 1,000-or-so horsepower, quad-turbo, 16-cylinder engine that's carried around in the back of the most gorgeous body ever with an equally exquisite interior. How about a revised model with 1,200-horsepower and 1,106 lb-ft of torque? Yeah, that'd do nicely. Rumors indicate that an über-Veyron could make an appearance at the very end of this current generation's production. Despite consistent rumors of the firm's eventual demise after that, head-honcho Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen says that another supercar and possibly an ultra-lux saloon (four-door to all you poor people) could be in the cards for 2012. In an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, alternative-fuel powerplants will also be on the drawing board. We know that parent-company VW has plenty of worthy powerplants in its parts bin, and the idea of giant torque funneled through an all-wheel drive system has us saving our millions already.
You can't go lopping the top off of a $1.5 million supercar without replacing it with something. Well, you could, but not if you're going to sell it for more than $2 million apiece. That's why when Bugatti unveiled the new Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, the automaker made sure to demonstrate not one, but two removable roofs that will be included with the targa hypercar. The first is a transparent polycarbonate hard-top section that can be removed and stowed for open-air driving. But in case the obscenely wealthy driver finds himself caught in an unexpected torrential downpour (or just a drizzle, for that matter), Bugatti has also developed an umbrella-like soft-top that can be deployed in an emergency. Unfortunately, the fabric roof section can't withstand the 252 mph top speed that the polycarbonate solid roof can, limiting speeds to an embarrassing 80 mph.
more ...
Just a day after the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport was unveiled on the Pebble Beach lawn, the Gooding & Company auctioned off the rights to chassis #1 and the opportunity to work with the Bugatti factory to build the car to their exact specifications. With the Grand Sport prototype up on the auction block, bidding started at $1.7 million and finally rested with a final offer of $2.9 million. The auction premium of 10 percent then brought the total to $3.19 million. In case you were wondering what it's like to witness the sale of a multi-million dollar car.
more ...
The wraps – and the roof – have come off the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport here in Monterey, finally answering a question few have asked and even fewer will sample.As you'd expect, Bugatti hasn't just hacked the roof off the Veyron and gone to the pub. The windshield is slightly higher, the daytime running lights have been tweaked and then there's the showpiece: a removable, transparent polycarbonate roof, which blends the A-pillars into two painted carbon fiber strips that lead into the massive air intakes feeding the 1001 hp, quad-turbocharged, W16.If you stow the roof at home for the world's fastest open-air, four-wheeled experience and the heavens decide to open, a folding roof stored in the luggage compartment can be – according to Bugatti – "opened like an umbrella." With the soft-top in place, speeds are limited to an incredibly low 130 km/h (81 mph), otherwise, the Grand Sport can hit 252 mph with the polycarbonate roof and 224 mph with the top removed.Bugatti made several structural enhancements to ensure the Grand Sport shares the same chassis rigidity and safety standards as its fixed roof counterpart. The monocoque has been reinforced around the side skirts and transmission tunnel, the doors feature new longitudinal beams, and the air intakes have been redesigned to include ten-centimeter-wide carbon fiber elements to protect occupants in the event of rollover.Only 150 examples will be made available, with the first 50 going to registered Bugatti customers. The first model will be auctioned off at the Gooding & Company auction tomorrow night, with all the profits over the 1.4 million euro ($2.05 million) sticker going to charity.
Our buddy Richard Owen over at Supercars.net has revealed that the long-rumored targa-style Bugatti Veyron will officially be called the Grand Sport. We recently learned that the pop-top Bug will make its public debut at the Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance in a couple of weeks. What we didn't know was that Gooding & Company will be auctioning the first order slot on August 17th, right after the best-in-show trophies are handed out at Pebble Beach.
While an open-top Veyron will instantly appeal to some, the thought of removing a chunk of aerodynamically essential material from the roofline will have many others questioning their sanity. Have no fear, however, as Bugatti has developed the roof so that there will be no draft inside. Even with its top speed limited to just 217, this will be one of the fastest open top cars around. We'll get you more details as they become available, but for now, get thee to Pebble if this is the the car you've been waiting for. And bring more than $2,250,000, the expected starting price. Bugatti is planning to build just 80 of these Grand Sports.
According to InsideLine, Bugatti plans to unveil its Targa variant of the Veyron next month at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey, California. The open-air hyper-car will use a removable hardtop, while a fabric cover can be used in its place if the heavens decide to open up mid-jaunt. IL is reporting that the chassis will be heavily reinforced to cope with the loss of the crucial structural component. Production will begin next year along side the Targa's fixed-roof predecessor, and with the current Veyron going for around $2 million, don't expect to get your 217-mph (limited) top speed kicks without paying another $250,000 on top of the Veyron's base-price.
With its quad-turbo W16 pumping out over 1000 horsepower and reaching speeds in excess of 250 mph, surpassing the Bugatti Veyron is no mean feat. Many have tried, but few have succeeded. Yet that is exactly what Bugatti's own engineers will have to achieve when it comes time to replace the Veyron with its successor.
What form that successor would take has been a subject of great debate and continued speculation. At first it was rumored to go downmarket as a roadster. Then it was expected to be a four-door. A lightweight exotic was said to be under development, while its new corporate overlords at Porsche seemed keen to relegate the marque altogether to coachbuilder status. In an emerging interview for Holland's AutoTelegraaf, however, CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen revealed that Bugatti is preparing to launch a new model to replace the Veyron in 2011 or 2012, and that despite restricting emissions and fuel economy regulations around the world, the new model would have to stand up to the performance standards set by the Veyron. Design will follow along the same theme as the Veyron, while Bugatti also considers a racing program, although what championship it would contend remains the subject of further speculation.
If you're thinking about dropping $1.5 million on a set of wheels, would a special edition really tip the scales one way or another? Well, Bugatti evidently thinks so. After having produced the Pur Sang and the Fbg par Hermès editions, the ultra-premium auto marque revealed the Sang Noir last month.
Now, after disgruntled U.S. buyers lost out on the opportunity to buy the Pur Sang when it sold out to an invited group of European customers in Paris, Bugatti has announced that its American clientele will get first crack at the limited run of 15 Sang Noir Veyrons before they're offered elsewhere in the world. And who said holding American citizenship isn't worth what it used to be?
While we all know that a 16-cylinder Bugatti Veyron would leave a 12-cylinder Ferrari 599 GTB choking in its own emissions, two blokes in the UK apparently wanted to check it out for themselves. After witnesses reported the two supercars jockeying for position at high speeds on public highways, police took pursuit in a BMW patrol car. Following velocities of nearly 140 mph in the chase, the Bugatti respectfully pulled over while the Ferrari got away scott free. Fortunately for the Bugatti driver, police officially clocked the 253-mph Veyron going a mere 97 mph. The resulting citation was three points on his license and a fine of just £60 (about $120). We think the outcome would have been much, much uglier in the States.
After the numerous reports we've brought you about the wealth of Bugatti Veyrons to be found in the United Arab Emirates, it should hardly come as any big surprise that when Top Gear magazine turned up in the capital Abu Dhabi, it had no trouble finding one for a photo shoot. In fact it didn't find just one, but three examples of the million-dollar supercar, with reclusive owners willing to hand over the keys to the British magazine.
Nor were these any run-of-the-mill Veyrons, either. Any true gearhead would know that the Veyron typically comes in two-tone paintjobs, but a few have left the factory in Molsheim with monotone tints, like the all-red example we reported on previously. That one, or one just like it, was one of the vehicles which the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority tracked down for TG, along with an all-white example and the extremely exclusive Pur Sang bare-aluminum-and-carbon edition spotted in the emirate previously. It's not every day that you see three Veyrons in the same place – let alone together with The Stig and, reportedly, a Koenigsegg CCX as well – but if it were to happen anywhere, the UAE seems to be the place.
