US airbag changes threaten Bugatti

[vetteheadracer]

Taken from this morning's FT
By James Mackintosh in London

Bugatti could be driven out of business if the supercar manufacturer is forced to comply with new US airbag rules which come into force next month, the French subsidiary of Volkswagen has told safety regulators.

Bugatti told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a letter last month that it would face "substantial economic hardship" from the new rules, which would require it to redesign its only model, the 1,001 horsepower €1m ($1.28m) Veyron. The cost would push up the price of the car 10 per cent and have a "catastrophic" effect on sales, it said.

[vipers]

vetteheadracer said:

Taken from this morning's FT
By James Mackintosh in London

Bugatti could be driven out of business if the supercar manufacturer is forced to comply with new US airbag rules which come into force next month, the French subsidiary of Volkswagen has told safety regulators.

Bugatti told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a letter last month that it would face "substantial economic hardship" from the new rules, which would require it to redesign its only model, the 1,001 horsepower €1m ($1.28m) Veyron. The cost would push up the price of the car 10 per cent and have a "catastrophic" effect on sales, it said.

Well if your rich enough, and daft enough to pay 1.28 mill for a bloody car, whats an extra 10%?

By the way, are we saying here that the Veyron doesnt have an air bag, if not, then I am, a gob smacked that a road car for that price doesnt already have one, I'l stick to my Volvo thank you very much.

[Zod]

This is a bollox story by VW. Contrary to Piech's protests, the whole Bugatti project was never expected to be profitable. He claims they now make money on each car, but that is without taking the development costs into account. An extra 10% is easily absorbable.