Bugatti Chiron - Geneva 2016

Bugatti is back with 1,500hp, 261mph Chiron [updated pics]

Barely had our teaser story gone live than reports of the first showing of the all-new Bugatti Chiron were out. And as per the spec sheet shared by our colleagues at Autocar the car picks up where the Veyron left off. And then disappears into the distance, its full-width rear light glowing like the engines of a Star Wars spaceship. Probably does that streaky thing to the stars too when it's fully lit.

Where to start?!

To continue where it was left, we were discussing how Bugatti was supposed to improve upon the 1,000hp and 922lb ft of the standard Veyron's quad-turbo W16. And the stats it delivered, like the 2.5-second 0-62mph sprint or - even more impressive - the 16.7 seconds required to reach 186mph from standstill. With half as much horsepower again, two-stage turbocharging and 1,180lb ft of torque the new Chiron hits that same speed in just 13.6 seconds. Which is, of course, ludicrous. To put that into some sort of perspective, at 6.8 seconds a McLaren P1 loses just three tenths to the Chiron from 0-125mph. But over the next 61mph to 186mph the Bugatti pulls out a lead of nearly three seconds. And then onto a limited top speed of 261mph, 44mph quicker than the P1 at flat chat.

Daft spec sheet bragging rights. But, hey, didn't we all start out playing Top Trumps?

By the numbers the Chiron clearly achieves what was required - namely to improve quantifiably on every stat on the Veyron's sheet in order to generate the necessary excitement. And orders, many no doubt from existing Bugatti customers. It also maintains the necessary performance cushion over those hybrid hypercar whipper snappers, sealing its position as The Boss of the high performance world.

But can the Chiron really hope to achieve the same impact as the Veyron? After all, for all the promised technical progress it still uses the same basic mechanical layout. And the looks, if wilder and more sci-fi than the Veyron, still very much follow the same formula.

The full public unveiling takes place at the Geneva show shortly. More on this when we've had chance to kick tyres ourselves.