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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?

Bugatti fully restores the first Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport prototype

Bugatti proved a car doesn't need wire wheels and a carburetor to be considered a classic by restoring an important part of its recent heritage. It purchased and renovated the first Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport prototype from 2008. Finished in white silver metallic with a cognac leather interior, the topless hypercar was presented to enthusiasts at the 2008 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It joined the Bugatti fleet after its champagne-soaked debut and became an unregistered demo car that logged miles in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. It then presumably ended up in private hands, and it largely fell off the radar until Bugatti spotted it in 2020. "Following the official confirmation of the car's status as an important historic model and the prototype that helped launch the Veyron Grand Sport in 2008, the car rapidly attracted attention from a number of captivated collectors, and it was acquired almost immediately," explained Luigi Galli, the man in charge of La Maison Pur Sang, Bugatti's in-house restoration and certification program. He added the firm keeps details about past models in its archives. Back in Molsheim, the picturesque French town where Bugatti's headquarters are located, the Veyron underwent a four-month restoration that brought it back to its 2008 configuration. The body panels were removed and repainted, the cabin was completely refurbished with leather upholstery and aluminum trim pieces, and a new center console was installed. There's no word on whether the quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine required an overhaul as well. Bugatti's in-house restoration expertise extends far beyond relatively new cars like a Veyron. It has access to a wide range of documents, blueprints, period photos, and experts that can help it piece together a car's history, regardless of whether it's a 13-year old prototype or a dismantled 100-year old race car stashed in a barn since the 1980s. Related video:

Limited-edition Bugatti Chiron Sport bridges the gap between cars and planes

Bugatti is highlighting the little-known link between some of its earliest race cars and aviation with a limited-edition variant of the Chiron Sport named Les Legendes du Ciel. Although it doesn't gain wings and an air-cooled radial engine, the model features several design tweaks made to catch the eye of vintage car and airplane buffs alike. "Many successful Bugatti racing drivers, such as Albert Divo, Robert Benoist and Bartolomeo ‘MeoÂ’ Costantini, flew for the French Air Force. It is therefore almost an obligation for us today to pay tribute to the legends of that time and dedicate a special edition to them," explained company boss Stephan Winkelmann in a statement.  Starting with a Chiron Sport, stylists painted the body in a specific shade called Gris Serpent (which means "snake gray" in French) that's inspired by the color of some of the planes that flew during the 1920s. For contrast, they added a white stripe that stretches from the grille to the rear wing, and they painted the front part of each rocket panel blue, white and red. Exposed carbon fiber accents add a finishing touch to the overall design. Look closely at the front end, and you'll notice another edition-specific touch. Instead of mesh, the grille's insert is made with laser-cut strips of aluminum arranged to look like a group of planes flying in a formation.  Brown leather upholstery dominates the cabin, and aluminum trim pieces create another visual link between the Les Legendes du Ciel and planes built over a century ago. Each door panel gains a hand-sketched image showing a Bugatti Type 13 racing against a Nieuport 17 biplane. Released in 1910, the Type 13 was the first car to wear the Bugatti name. Launched in 1916, the 17 was a single-seater appreciated for its speed and reliability. Power for the Les Legendes du Ciel comes from a quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16 engine, which produces 1,500 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque. It spins the four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission linked to steering wheel-mounted shift paddles, and it sends the Chiron to a top speed that's electronically limited to 261 mph. In other words, it's faster than some of the planes it pays tribute to. Bugatti will make 20 units of the Chiron Sport Les Legendes du Ciel, and pricing starts at 2.88 million euros, a figure that represents $3.41 million at the current conversion rate. It sounds like build slots are still available.