- The supercar comes with a 16-cylinder engine and a speedometer that goes to 500 km/h, although a limiter will keep a driver from exceeding 420 km/h. The car can go from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds
(CNN) Bugatti unveiled a new high-performance supercar at the Geneva Motor Show on Monday.
The French car maker currently produces only four models — all variations of the famed Bugatti Veyron. The Veyron was introduced in 2005 and the “Veyron 16.4 Super Sport” was named the world’s fastest production car by the Guiness Book of World Records in 2013.
But the Veyron era is about to end.
Bugatti says that the new generation, the Chiron, will be a “completely new development.” According to the car maker, it’ll be faster, more powerful and even more expensive, with a base price of US$2.6 million.
“It is part of human nature to cross boundaries and set new records,” Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. President Wolfgang Dürheimer said in a statement. “This striving is also our driving force at Bugatti. The Chiron is the result of our efforts to make the best even better.”
The new model will have 1,500 HP to work with, which is 300 HP more than the record-setting Veyron. The Chiron’s top speed remains to be seen, but it will be capped at 420 km/h (260 mph) for road use.
Bugatti — which is part of Volkswagen — will make just 500 of the first Chiron series, and a third of them have already been sold. The company began giving private presentations of the car to “select customers” last fall, and will deliver the new cars this fall.
The supercar comes with a 16-cylinder engine and a speedometer that goes to 500 km/h, although a limiter will keep a driver from exceeding 420 km/h.
However, Bugatti says the Chiron, which can go from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and 0-300 km/h in 13.6 seconds, will “significantly exceed” the speed record for a car made for the non-racing public. The record was set by its current Veyron at 431 km/h. This means the Chiron may soon be the world’s fastest street-legal car.
The rocket ship is named after Louis Chiron, a Bugatti race driver in the 1920s and 1930s. Volkswagen acquired the brand in 1998 and, seven years later, brought it back to life with the Veyron. Over the past 11 years, Bugatti has made 450 examples of the Veyron. (Additional info from the Globe and Mail)
