Bugatti Chiron is coming

As Bugatti workers bolt together the final few Veyrons at the historic Molsheim factory, the attention of Volkswagen top brass has turned to its successor, tentatively called the Chiron. And they’re not happy.

According to our European correspondent, Georg Kacher, during the annual summer prototype drive both Ferdinand Piëch, chairman of the VW Group supervisory board and father of the Veyron, and Martin Winterkorn, chairman and CEO of the VW Group, both complained about the difficulty in getting in and out of the Chiron prototype due to its wide sills and narrow opening.

Having reportedly just taken delivery of a LaFerrari for his wife, Ursula, Piëch has proposed a similar door solution for the Chiron, in which the door and outer sill swing up together. However, such a modification would require extensive re-engineering and the resultant evaluation work has put the project back to 2016, rather than its initial late-2015 debut.

While based on the existing Veyron structure, 92 per cent of the Chiron’s parts are new or modified. Weight will decrease to improve the car’s handling and agility while also aiding performance. Having to improve on the benchmark set up by the Veyron Super Sport, the Chiron will hit 100km/h in just over two seconds on its way to a ludicrous top speed of 460km/h.

A number of powerplants were considered, including an Audideveloped stillborn 14-cylinder engine, but the Veyron’s 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 will be retained, albeit heavily modified to produce 1120kW/1500Nm. The power will also be spread over a wider range, thanks to at least two of the four turbos being electrically driven. Once again, a seven-speed dualclutch gearbox will be standard.

Active aerodynamics play a key role in allowing the car to achieve such outrageous velocities and Michelin has had to develop a completely new tyre to handle the forces involved.

Just under 2m (AU$2.8m) is the expected price, and given it took Bugatti almost 10 years to shift 450 Veyrons, expect fewer Chirons to be made available. We’ll bring you more details as they come to hand.