Friday 3rd March 2017

Bugatti Chiron hits the road

Veyron? Yesterday's news as the first production Chirons leave the factory

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In a press release best described as a polite clearing of the throat ahead of next week's Geneva show Bugatti has released a video celebrating the departure of the first production Chirons from its Molsheim 'Atelier'. You can perhaps understand why - with the world's supercar buying elite dusting off their best tailored sports jackets, expensive timepieces and posh loafers ready for the show Bugatti will be keen to remind them it's still the daddy in this game.

Are those afterburners?

Lest we forget, the production Chiron was formally unveiled a year ago at the same show and Bugatti is promising "a further customer vehicle" for its stand this year. The first of a range of increasingly ostentatious one-off special editions in the mould of the Veyron? We'll see.

For now the first cars off the line are Chiron1series models with the entry level spec of a 1,500hp quad-turbo 8.0-litre W16 motor. Two-stage turbocharging means its 1,180lb ft of torque is there from 2,000rpm to 6,000rpm and there's the 261mph top speed present and correct to triumph in any key fob measuring contests you might be having with your hypercar owning mates.

From the moment you lay down your 2.4m euros (before options) and pull the trigger on the preferred spec construction of your Chiron takes six months of painstaking assembly by Molsheim's specialist technicians. A taste of that is shown in the video, including the 'mating' of the 628kg powertrain and the the carbon monocoque. With the rear body built around the engine and gearbox the two sections are joined by 14 titanium bolts, each weighing just 34g. Each stage requires suitably time-consuming quality control, mainly involving being fondled by a white-gloved Frenchmanm if the video is anything to go by.

Bugatti expects to build Chirons at the rate of 70 per year, these first three cars featured in the video now on their way to owners in Europe and the Middle East.

Watch the vid here.

 

 

[Onehp]

Looking forward to your review

[Onehp]

I echo a bit the sentiments of lestiq, the Chiron is a technological exercise to admire but I can't see much fruit from it that could benefit society as a whole. Other then training of engineers, an exercise for the sake of it. An piece of automotive art perhaps? That inspires to what? It does seem to be uncannily efficient when using 3% of its potential, cylinder deactivation perhaps?

The car itself will probably sit stationary most of the time, and the owners will probably take the helicopter or the long range Panamera diesel if they want to quickly travel across Germany, just abouy the only use I could otherwise think of to use any of the potential of the Chiron... Well that is my hope, that whoever buys this, at least has the decency to enjoy it, be exited about it, and show it on the road and perhaps demonstrate for mere mortals what a ground bound 2 seater 'Concorde' looks like when you give it some...