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Wolfgang D?rheimer retakes the reins at Bentley and Bugatti

Wolfgang Dürheimer is still in play, with Bentley Motors announcing that he will return to the Chairman and CEO slot of the English company and French division Bugatti on June 1, 2014. He'll probably remember those chairs from the last time he filled them, since he was promoted to both positions in 2010 and remained there until September 2012, when he was installed as the head of R&D at Audi. That job only lasted until June of 2013, his nine-month tenure reported to be full of corporate drama that lead to his dismissal from the position.
But as if on gardening leave, he's been in the low-profile position of General Representative of the Volkswagen Group responsible for motorsport. Once back at Bentley, he will take over as the company works on getting its SUV to market and expanding its range. Both of those briefs Dürheimer will know well, having proved his ability at Porsche in the first decade of the new millennium. And even though no longer at Audi, his hybrid days don't appear to be over, as Bentley recently announced that it will hybridize of 90 percent of its lineup.
Dürheimer will also take on a third position, joining a VW Group committee focused on the US and Chinese markets. His successor at Bentley and Bugatti, Wolfgang Schreiber, has been promoted to "a leading position within the Volkswagen Group." There's a brief press release below with the official words.

Why the Bugatti Royale was the first car granted diplomatic immunity

Bugatti's cars have participated in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance since the inaugural event was held in 1950. The judges have given the prestigious Best of Show award to a Bugatti nine times, but the firm notes one of the most memorable moments at the concours was displaying the six examples of the Royale on the lawn in 1985. Getting six vehicles together doesn't sound awfully difficult, yet organizing the Royale display was actually a massive undertaking that involved international law and charter flights. Bugatti only built six units of the Royale, a 252-inch-long ultra-luxurious car powered by a 12.8-liter straight-eight engine, between 1926 and 1933. While all of them survived, which is astonishing considering what many went through, they were scattered on both sides of the pond. One of the biggest hurdles was that two of the Royales were located in the fascinating Cite de l'Automobile museum in Mulhouse, France, and they were part of the batch seized from the Schlumpf brothers by the French government. "The museum was worried that if the cars left French soil, the Schlumpf brothers might attempt a legal move to seize the cars back," explained Chris Bock, who played an instrumental role in organizing the display. Bock and his colleagues convinced American government officials to grant the two cars diplomatic immunity. This was the first time a car had benefited from this status. However, at the time, cargo flights from France to the United States stopped in Canada to refuel, and the immunity wasn't valid on Canadian soil, so Air France operated a direct flight from Paris to Los Angeles to get the Royales to the Pacific coast. And then, one flight became two. Still worried about retaliation from the Schlumpf brothers, the museum insisted that each car be transported separately. Sending the four others to Monterey was simple. Two were in the William F. Harrah collection in Reno, Nevada, and one was in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The sixth arrived in an even more laid-back manner. "Then, a guy arrived with the sixth Royale, which belonged to (American race car driver) Briggs Cunningham. He'd towed it on an open trailer with a Ford F-250 pickup truck. He said: 'oh, it'll be fine, we'll just throw a tarp over it,' while everyone else was running around hyperventilating," remembered Bock. Arranging the display wasn't easy, but it paid off.

Bugatti Baby II Carbon Edition is a scaled-down tribute to the Mistral

Bugatti unveiled a new variant of the Baby II, its smallest and most affordable model. Inspired by the 1,600-horsepower Mistral introduced in 2022, the Baby II Carbon Edition is a scaled-down replica of the Type 35 that's more advanced than its pocket-sized dimensions suggest. While the Baby II Carbon Edition blurs the line between a car and a toy, it's built on a carbon fiber architecture and features a long list of carbon fiber parts including the grille bezel and the dashboard. Bugatti removed the regular Baby II's side-mounted spare wheel to keep weight in check, and it gave the car a heritage-laced yellow and black livery reminiscent of the Mistral, though other liveries are available.  The four-spoke, quick-release steering wheel is mounted on the right side of the dashboard but calling the Baby II right-hand-drive wouldn't be accurate. The seat is too small for two full-size adults to sit on and the pedals (which are adjustable and machined from solid aluminum) are located on the left side of the footwell. The fuel pump handle fitted to the original Type 35 now lets the driver select drive, neutral, or reverse, and vintage-looking gauges add a finishing touch to the look. The fuel pressure gauge was notably redesigned as a battery gauge. Bugatti hasn't released technical details. For context, the regular Baby II is powered by an electric motor that unlocks a 42-mph top speed. Pricing for the Bugatti Baby II Carbon Edition starts at ˆ80,000 (about $84,600 at the current conversion rate) excluding taxes and shipping. That's a bargain for a Bugatti, even a tiny one, but there's a catch: Autoblog learned that only Mistral customers are eligible to order the Carbon Edition. Production will consequently be limited by how many Mistral buyers put down a deposit, so up to 99 units could be built. Related video: Featured Gallery Bugatti Baby II Carbon Edition Bugatti Convertible