The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti, and manufactured in Molsheim, France by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pierre Veyron.
The original version has a top speed of 407 km/h.[4] It was named the 2000s Car of the Decade by the BBC television programme Top Gear. The standard Veyron also won Top Gear's Best Car Driven All Year award in 2005.
The Super Sport version of the Veyron is one of the fastest street-legal production cars in the world, with a top speed of 431.072 km/h. The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse was the fastest roadster in the world, reaching an averaged top speed of 408.84 km/h in a test on 6 April 2013.[5][6] The production car speed record was later taken by another Bugatti, the Chiron, and then often changed hands for a while.[7]
The Veyron's chief designer was Hartmut Warkuß, with the exterior being designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen. Much of the engineering work was conducted under the guidance of chief technical officer Wolfgang Schreiber. The Veyron includes a sound system designed and built by Burmester Audiosysteme.[8]
Several special variants have been produced. In December 2010, Bugatti began offering prospective buyers the ability to customise exterior and interior colours by using the Veyron 16.4 Configurator application on the marque's official website.[9][10] The Bugatti Veyron was discontinued in late 2014, but special edition models continued to be produced until 2015.
Origins
In May 1998, Volkswagen AG acquired the rights to use the Bugatti logo and the trade name Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. To succeed the EB 110 model produced under the previous ownership, the automaker quickly released a series of concept cars whose technological advancements would culminate in the form of the Veyron 16.4.
Between October 1998 and September 1999, Bugatti introduced a series of Giugiaro-designed concept vehicles, each with permanent four-wheel drive and powered by the Volkswagen-designed W18 engine. The first car, the EB 118, was a 2-door luxury coupé presented at the 1998 Paris Motor Show. The next car, the EB 218, was a 4-door saloon presented at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. The third and final car, the 18/3 Chiron, was a mid-engine sports car presented at the 1999 International Motor Show in Frankfurt.[11]
In October 1999, Bugatti unveiled a fourth concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Bugatti Veyron (2005–2011)
Specifications and performance
The Veyron features an 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines bolted together. Each cylinder has four valves for a total of 64, but the configuration of each bank allows two overhead camshafts to drive two banks of cylinders so only four camshafts are needed. The engine is fed by four turbochargers and displaces 7993 cc, with a square 86 by bore and stroke.
The transmission is a dual-clutch direct-shift computer-controlled automatic transmission having seven gear ratios, with magnesium paddles behind the steering wheel and a shift time of less than 150 milliseconds, built by Ricardo of England rather than Borg-Warner, who designed the six speed DSG used in the mainstream Volkswagen Group marques. The Veyron can be driven in either semi-automatic or fully-automatic mode. A replacement transmission for the Veyron costs just over US$120,000. It also has permanent all-wheel drive using the Haldex Traction system. It uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tyres, designed specifically to accommodate the Veyron's top speed, and cost US$25,000 per set.
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport (2009–2015)
The targa top version of the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4, dubbed the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, was unveiled at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.[36][37] It has extensive reinforcements to compensate for the lack of a standard roof[38] and small changes to the windshield and running lights. Two removable tops are included, the second a temporary arrangement fashioned after an umbrella. The top speed with the hardtop in place is the same as the standard coupé version, but with the roof removed is limited to 369 km/h—and to 130 km/h with the temporary soft roof. The Grand Sport edition was limited to 150 units, with the first 50 going exclusively to registered Bugatti customers. Production began in the second quarter of 2009.
Special editions
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, World Record Edition (2010–2011)
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is a faster, more powerful version of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Production was limited to 48 units. The Super Sport has increased engine power output of 882.3 kW at 6,400 rpm and a maximum torque of 1500 Nm at 3,000–5,000 rpm and a revised aerodynamic package.[48] The Super Sport has been driven as fast as 431.072 km/h, making it the fastest production road car in the world at the time of its introduction[49][50][51] although it is electronically limited to 415 km/h to protect the tyres from disintegrating.[48]
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition is a version of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. It is limited to five units. It has an orange body detailing, orange wheels, and a special black exposed carbon body. The electronic limiter is deactivated on this version.[52]
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse (2012–2015)
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is a targa top version of the Veyron Super Sport. The engine in the Vitesse variant has a maximum power output of 1183.2 hp at 6,400 rpm and a maximum torque of 1500 Nm at 3,000–5,000 rpm. These figures allow the car to accelerate from a stand still to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds. On normal roads, the Vitesse is electronically limited to 375 km/h.
The Vitesse was first unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show[60][61] and later at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show[62] and the 2012 São Paulo Motor Show.[63]
Special editions
A number of special editions of the Vitesse were made:
Specifications (all variants)
Special editions by car tuners
Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero
The Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero is a Veyron 16.4 modified by the German car modification firm Mansory.[104]
The Linea Vincero has new wheel rims and new exterior lower bodywork. It extensively uses carbon fibre in the interior and exterior as well.
This car, with its interior and exterior customisations, is worth US$1 million more than a standard Veyron 16.4.[105]
Bugatti Veyron Linea D'oro
The Bugatti Veyron Linea D'oro is a car made on the basis of the Veyron Grand Sport and the 16.4 by the German car modification firm Mansory.
Production
As of 6 August 2014, 405 cars had been produced and delivered to customers worldwide, with orders that have already been placed for another 30. Bugatti was reported to produce 300 coupés and 150 roadsters up to the end of 2015.[110] Production amounted to 450 units in a span of over 10 years. The final production vehicle, a Grand Sport Vitesse titled "La Finale" (The Last One), was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show from 5–15 March 2015.[111]
Future development
In 2008, Bugatti then-CEO Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen confirmed that the Veyron would be replaced by another high-end model by 2012.[112] In 2011, the new CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer revealed that the company was planning to produce two models in the future — one a sports car-successor to the Veyron, the other a limousine known as the Bugatti 16C Galibier, which was later cancelled since Bugatti was later then working on a successor to the Veyron, which became the Bugatti Chiron.[113]
The successor to the Veyron was unveiled in concept form as the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo at the September 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show.
A toned-down version of the radically styled Vision Gran Turismo concept car, now called the Chiron, debuted at the March 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Production started in 2017 and production was limited to 500 units, with the final Chiron being produced in May 2024.
Sales
- 1) The last Veyron, No. 450 was sold in May 2014.
Reception
Top Gear
All three former presenters of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear have given the Veyron considerable praise. While initially skeptical that the Veyron would ever be produced, Jeremy Clarkson later declared the Veyron "the greatest car ever made and the greatest car we will ever see in our lifetime", comparing it to Concorde and S.S. Great Britain. He noted that the production cost of a Veyron was GB£5 million, but was sold to customers for just GB£1 million. Volkswagen designed the car merely as a technical exercise. James May described the Veyron as "our Concorde moment". Clarkson test drove the Veyron from Alba in northern Italy to London in a race against May and Richard Hammond who made the journey in a Cessna 182 aeroplane.
A few episodes later, May drove the Veyron at the VW test track and took it to its top speed of 407.16 km/h. In series 10, Hammond raced the Veyron against the Eurofighter Typhoon and lost. He also raced the car in Series 13 against a McLaren F1 driven by The Stig in a one-mile (1.6 km) drag race in Abu Dhabi. The commentary focused on Bugatti's "amazing technical achievement" versus the "non-gizmo" racing purity of the F1. While the F1 was quicker off the line and remained ahead until both cars were travelling at approximately 200 km/h, the Bugatti overtook its competitor from 200 to 300 km/h and emerged the victor.
See also
- List of fastest production cars
- List of production cars by power output
External links
References
- Molsheim Experience Bugatti, retrieved 21 March 2020^
- Staff change at Škoda Auto design department Škoda-Auto.com, 10 December 2007, retrieved 29 August 2009^
- Veyron 16.4 retrieved 1 June 2017^