Bugatti Veyron: needs new airbags?
We hear that potential US buyers of the Bugatti Veyron may have to shell out an additional $125,000.
New US safety rules mean that the car will need some redesigning. According to a letter that Bugatti boss Thomas Bscher wrote to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, the company might even be put out of business by such a change.
New so-called smart airbag rules come into effect next month. They're intended to ensure that airbags can distinguish between a child and an adult who aren't wearing seatbelts -- a far more common occurrence in the US than in Europe -- and which can adjust the amount of airbag inflation for small drivers sitting further forward than normal. The aim is to avoid injuries from the airbags themselves in a crash.
But a redesign to accommodate the new airbags will affect both the price of the current Veyron, and the timing of the design and manufacturing of the next model. Additionally, to validate the design will require up to 120 crash tests -- and at the thick end of €1 million per car, that's an expensive pile of bent hardware.
So there's a lot of money at stake. According to the FT, Bscher also said in his letter that the company expected to lose €3.1m over the next three years even if it were exempted.
As a result, Bscher has asked for a two-year exemption from the ruling on the grounds that only 150 examples will be imported anyway. Bugatti isn't alone in this: other low volume car builders have applied similarly, including Lotus, Ferrari, Spyker, Morgan and Lamborghini.
And in its petition for examption, Lamborghini said its 2007 post-tax profit of €1.7m would become a loss of €4.7m loss if the Murciélago were not exempted. Lambo's next generation of the car, due in 2009, will meet the new airbag requirements -- but at a cost of about €20m.