2008 Bugatti Veyron on 2040-cars

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Bugatti looking to make elongated electric luxury car

Bugatti has been a one-trick pony for awhile now, but that could be changing in a few years. Car reports that the French supercar maker is working on an electric luxury car, due in 2023. The report claims Bugatti will use an elongated version of the platform Porsche is building the Taycan on. Plenty of changes would be made to make it worthy of the Bugatti name — adding copious amounts of carbon fiber and other lightweight exotic materials wouldn't be out of the question, since Bugatti doesn't have to worry about a price point like Porsche does. It also needs to differentiate itself considerably from others under the Volkswagen umbrella to be taken seriously. Car posits that this luxury barge could bring back the Royale name from the early twentieth century. Solid-state battery tech is not ready for production cars yet, but it's speculated that we could see the tech used as replacement for lithium-ion in this car. With no definitive timeline for solid state battery deployment, we'll maintain a healthy level of skepticism for now. Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann spoke of the potential luxury car to Bloomberg at the Geneva Motor Show, too. He claimed the battery-electric car would be more affordable than the brand's usual fare. "There, I would see us doing a battery electric vehicle," Winkelmann said. "There, the balance between performance and comfort is much more important, and it's about daily usability. This is what I see." We don't see Bugatti axing the Chiron and whatever will replace it sometime down the line, so this next car will mean the brand would finally have two concurrent model offerings. Winkelman said the company's priorities for its future cars are changing, with top speed being much lower on the list of priorities, as well. "In Bugatti's future, maximum speed does not play the leading role any more," Winkelmann said. "From now on, we are going to put an emphasis on ultimate overall vehicle dynamics, lightweight and modern sustainable luxury." We've no doubt Bugatti will be able to find homes for nearly anything it produces. Bugatti told Bloomberg that the average Bugatti customer has 42(!) cars parked in the garages of what we can assume are various homes all around the world. Why should those folks have to commute in a stuffy old Rolls-Royce when they could be in a Bugatti?

Mate Rimac dishes on Bugatti engines and a canceled Bugatti EV CUV

Bugatti Rimac CEO Mate Rimac gave Auto Express a look behind the scenes of his short time as head of the combined hypercar companies, as well as a peep into the CEO's crystal ball. The interview deserves a read because Rimac is the latest, closest thing we have to "garage car guy catapults himself into industry bigwig" — the hugely successful corporate antipode to Christian von Koenigsegg's hugely successful indie label. In 2007, at 19 years old, Rimac began converting his BMW 3 Series to an electric powertrain. Four years later, he showed the Rimac Concept One at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Ten years after that, he took the lead at Bugatti. He told Auto Express that as soon as he agreed with VW to lead the Molsheim luxury brand, which was two years before being installed as CEO, he and his team began working on a new internal combustion engine for a future Bugatti. Rimac said he'd already been working on a Bugatti project, ex-CEO Stephan Winkelmann having sought assistance on "an electric CUV similar to what the Ferrari Purosange turned out to be." We're told the idea was to rework the Rimac Nevera powertrain for the purpose. Once Rimac knew he was going to take over the joint venture company, the crossover was dead. Rimac said, "I knew exactly what I wanted the next car [after the Chiron] to be, and we started developing a combustion engine on our own." We will get a concept view of that powerplant next year, described as a "totally bonkers" hybrid in a car that doesn't share any parts with an existing Bugatti or Rimac. We'll probably be waiting until the last Chirons and Mistrals are produced before it hits the road, though.    As for the canceled Bugatti crossover, Rimac says that's not coming back. We've heard that from every supercar and hypercar maker that now has or will soon have an SUV, haven't we? Here's where we reach the gray area: Rimac isn't opposed to a four-seater car, he's opposed to an SUV. Regarding a car, he told AE, "I will never say we'll never do this sort of thing," but he hasn't found a "technical concept" that combines the proportions needed to make four people comfortable with what he expects from a hypercar. The SUV, on the other hand, received an unequivocal, "No. ... It was something we immediately stopped for Bugatti, and we will go in a slightly different direction. That is a direction we will never take." Keep an eye on that line in the sand.

Bugatti Divo revealed, all 40 are already spoken for

After numerous teasers, the Bugatti Divo has finally been revealed. I will thus take this opportunity to type "whip it good," mention funny red conical hats and move onto something only slightly less ridiculous. The Divo cost ˆ5 million each for the 40 people who have already purchased the limited production run. So sorry, you missed your chance. The Bugatti Divo is quite obviously based on the Chiron. Though it shares that car's 8.0-liter W16 engine, it is 77 pounds lighter and is capable of producing 198 extra pounds of downforce. Basically, while the Chiron is all about top speed, the Divo is more about taking corners. To that end, its lateral g is said to be 1.6 g, which is a staggering number, and its maximum speed is limited to only 236 mph. "To date, a modern Bugatti has represented a perfect balance between high performance, straight-line dynamics and luxurious comfort," said Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann. "Within our possibilities, we have shifted the balance in the case of the Divo further towards lateral acceleration, agility and cornering. The Divo is made for bends." The newer, wider front spoiler contributes to that extra downforce, along with a new rear diffuser and a 23-percent wider rear spoiler that remains automatically height adjustable and still functions as an airbrake. It's a whopping 6 feet wide. Tweaks up front also create an "air curtain" that optimizes air flow along the Divo's sides. Besides creating extra downforce, aerodynamic changes also increase cooling to the engine and brakes. The Divo also gets special suspension and steering settings to maximize handling. That includes increasing camber. Weight was reduced by using lighter wheels and a carbon fiber intercooler cover, along with a reduction in sound insulation, a lighter sound system and fixing the otherwise adjustable front diffuser flaps. According to Bugatti, the resulting changes result in the Divo lapping the Nardo handling circuit 8 seconds faster than the Chiron can. Its 40 owners are sure to be super impressed by that. Like the Veyron and Chiron, the Divo is named after a driver from the early years of car racing. Specifically, Albert Divo, the two-time winner of the Targa Florio in the 1920s. He did not look like this. Related Video: