2012 Bugatti Veyron on 2040-cars

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Matthias Muller officially named VW Group CEO

While the vast number of rumors made it seem like a foregone conclusion, Porsche boss Matthias Muller has officially been named Volkswagen Group CEO to replace the recently resigned Martin Winterkorn. His contract runs through the end of February 2020, and until a replacement is found, Muller also gets to hang onto his old job as chairman of Porsche. At the same time, the VW Group Supervisory Board is announcing a massive structural reorganization across the entire company, with the new management model in place by the beginning of 2016. Contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. The board wants a greater emphasis on brands and regions going forward, and the scale of this shift can be seen in the US. On November 1, VW Group business in the US, Mexico, and Canada is being combined under the leadership of current Skoda chairman Winfried Vahland. However contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. Other brands are also seeing some significant changes mechanically. Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti now fall under the Group's "sportscar and mid-engine toolkit." This means that the brands will start sharing standardized technical parts. A Chief Technical Officer across all of the company's brands will also start working toward future innovations. The new brand-centric view means the end of a group-wide production department. "Going forward, the brands and regions will also have greater independence with regard to production. So it follows that they should also hold the responsibility for these activities," Berthold Huber, interim Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said in the announcement. In a statement with the press release about his promotion, Muller promised to turn the company around after such an international crisis. He said: "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation. Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry." Matthias Muller appointed CEO of the Volkswagen Group Muller remains Chairman of Porsche AG until a successor has been found Matthias Muller (62) has been appointed CEO of Volkswagen AG with immediate effect.

Bugatti has just eight Veyrons left to sell

Hard as it may be to believe, it has now been nearly a decade since Bugatti first introduced the Veyron back in 2005. And in the ten years since, the Alsatian marque has sold 442 of the seven-figure hypercars, leaving just eight roadsters still left up for grabs before one of the most impressive feats of engineering in the history of the automobile roars off into the sunset. Production of the Veyron was initially pegged at 300 coupes, but its life was extended by another 150 roadsters with the introduction of the Grand Sport in 2008. The last of the Veyron coupes (including the more powerful Super Sport model that followed) came to a close in September 2011, but production of the remaining Grand Sport and Vitesse roadsters has soldiered on since – and will continue until those final eight units have left the factory in Molsheim. If it's taken Bugatti over nine years to build the first 442 examples at a rate of about one per week, it should take about another two months to complete those final eight examples – that is, once production of outstanding orders are completed, and orders for the remaining examples are placed. Considering it's taken nearly five months to sell the previous seven examples, Bugatti might have to do what Bugatti does and roll out some special farewell edition to move those last few examples off the line. The bigger question, though, is What comes next? With development of the succeeding Chiron reportedly pushed back, there's been talk of one last hurrah for the outgoing Veyron in the form of an even more extreme speedster of sorts. But as Car magazine reports, after speaking to Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Durheimer at the launch of the company's merchandise boutique in London, the company will soon need to get down to the business of putting together the pre-production prototypes for the Chiron with its anticipated 1,500 horsepower and even more impressive performance. One way or another, we're not expecting a lot of down time at the French workshop in between production runs. Featured Gallery Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Wei Long 2012 News Source: CarImage Credit: Bugatti Plants/Manufacturing Bugatti Car Buying Supercars Bugatti Chiron

Trial of man whose Bugatti Veyron went in the drink mysteriously delayed [w/video]

The mysterious case of the drowned Bugatti Veyron has taken another turn toward the strange.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's bring you up to speed: Andy House, who owns an exotic car repair shop called Performance Auto Sales, crashed his Veyron into a lagoon in Texas after allegedly being distracted by a low-flying pelican... or something. Naturally, House turned a claim into his insurance company for the totaled supercar to the tune of $2.2 million, which is likely more than the car is actually worth.
Shortly thereafter, video surfaced of the crash, with nary a distraction in sight. The next makes-you-go-hmm moment occured when reports surfaced of a new Veyron, along with a pair of Lamborghini coupes and a Porsche 911 GT3, landing in House's garage. The estimated cost of these supercars, according to Jalopnik, is $2.2 million. All of this made Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company's insurance fraud lawsuit in 2011 - two years after the incident - come as little surprise.