The fastest car in the world, the Bugatti Chiron, has been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. It is the successor to the Veyron and it costs a whooping $2.61 million USD.
“It is part of human nature to cross boundaries and set new records – to run 100 m faster than ever before, to fly even further into space and to enter new realms. This striving is also our driving force at Bugatti. The Chiron is the result of our efforts to make the best even better. Bugatti has tested the limits of physics. There is no area where we have not achieved significant improvements.” – Wolfgang Dürheimer,
President Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
The Chiron packs a 1,500-horsepower, W16 engine under its hood pushed by a new, two-stage, turbo-boosting technology; it has 1,600 newton meters of torque and a completely new chassis designed for improved rigidity and handling. Bugatti engineers said it comes with a unique linear power curve that will hit 60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds and 186 mph in just over 13 seconds. (Indeed, anyone who drove even the Veyron can attest to the nearly unsettling jet-like hum and feel of that multimillion-dollar thrust.)
Top speed on the dashboard is listed at 500 km/h (311 mph), though they hinted the car will go faster than that.
More pedestrian drivers can choose from five distinct drive modes: the Auto EB mode, for daily driving in regular conditions; the Autobahn mode, which comes with a special top-speed suspension adjustment for highway conditions; the Handling mode made especially for race track fun; the Lift mode, which enables easier access for ramps and garage; and the Top Speed mode, which is activated by a top-speed key and is to be used only in the most extreme circumstances.
The Chiron has a new aerodynamic system that changes according to speed and conditions (the entire rear end is carbon fiber, and the car comes with a carbon monocoque), bigger F1-level brakes on bigger, new 19-inch wheels, and a full titanium exhaust system. They are all performance-driven aspects, but they also curve the car toward beauty by conventional standards, rather than leaving it looking raw and jagged like a massive track machine.
Inside, the car matches its exterior excellence. The dashboard includes an analogue speedometer offset by HMI gauges on the side. Light accents say the word “Chiron” throughout, plus there’s a matching set of Bugatti Chiron leather luggage. The Illuminated C-bar in the interior is the longest light conductor in the automobile industry. “What you see is what you get,” Durheimer boasted, meaning that everything that looks like leather is leather, everything that looks like steel or carbon is steel and carbon.
Bugatti says it will only be producing 500 of these cars. You may say who will pick up this car at that amount. Well you definitely are not of the same mindset as the 150 people who have already placed an order. It officially goes on sale later this fall.
Source: Bugatti/Bloomberg
