Latest news with #Veyron
Top Gear
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Think you know your Bugattis? Here's every speed-obsessed model that matters
Advertisement The touchstone for all modern Bugattis, the Type 35 of the 1920s won over 1,000 races in its competitive life. Not bad for a car with (at its most powerful) 138 horsepower. Advertisement - Page continues below Over six metres long, three tonnes in weight and powered by a 12.7-litre inline eight that Bugatti put in a high speed train. Possibly the ultimate luxury statement. And a complete commercial flop. You might like Could this be the prettiest aircraft of all time? Designed to win speed trials in the late 1930s, the contra-rotating props lightweight never flew in period because of World War Two. Advertisement - Page continues below The only product of Bugatti's mid-1990s revival celebrated the 110th anniversary of Ettore Bugatti's birth with a quad turbo AWD V12 supercar... just in time for a global recession. Before the Veyron came the... huh? Yep, this 1999 concept car previewed Volkswagen-led Bugatti's future with a 6.3-litre W18 engine good for a mere 555bhp. Took six years to evolve into the Veyron. VW boss Ferdinand Piëch's dream of a 400kph, 1,000 horsepower car was finally realised. And the company only had to make a loss in the region of €4m on every one sold to achieve it. You didn't expect Volkswagen to stop at a mere 1,000PS (986bhp), did you? New turbos, suspension, aero and tyres later, the SS managed a record breaking 268mph vmax on the VW test track. Advertisement - Page continues below Veyron successor continued the quad turbo W16 recipe, now up to 1,479bhp with Le Mans racer levels of chassis stiffness, a limited top speed of 261mph and a £1.8m price. Can a two tonne Fabergé egg moon rocket be a hardcore track special? With Bugatti now under the stewardship of spinoff specialist Stephan Winkelmann, oui , for sure. Advertisement - Page continues below Longtail Chiron packing a beastly 1,578bhp engine tune was the first factory road car to breach the 300mph barrier in history. And it was still accelerating. One more trophy for the quad turbo W16 engine. The roofless Mistral (named after southerly French breeze) took the cabriolet speed record with a 282mph run in late 2024. Roll on the Tourbillon. The first Rimac tech-infused Bugatti teams a tilted Cosworth V16 with three e-motors for 1,775bhp. Intricate aero and horology-tastic cabin seal the deal, this is the next all time great hypercar in waiting. See more on Supercars
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The long and difficult gestation of the Bugatti Veyron
Anti-clockwise from top right: the EB118, EB218, 18/3 Chiron and 18/4 Veyron concepts In 1998, Volkswagen bought the rights to the Bugatti brand from the bankrupted Italian firm that had given us the V12-engined EB110 supercar. Seven years and more than €1 billion later, we drove a Veyron for the first time. It was the fastest and most powerful production car the world had ever seen, by quite some margin, and it hit, if not exceeded, all of the targets that had been set – except for cost, because there was no constraint on that, and, despite it retailing for €1 million, Volkswagen allegedly lost €5m on each one. Or rather company supremo Ferdinand Piëch lost it, because the Veyron was his car through and through. The idea only came to fruition because his attitude was: 'You will get it done, and if you can't, you will be replaced by someone who can,' according to Chrysler chief Bob Lutz. But then the Veyron was never meant to be a money-making exercise. In our final issue of 1998, Peter Robinson commented: 'Without Piëch's astonishing assault into car territories once beyond the wildest fantasy of staid old VW, the task of writing Autocar's weekly Grapevine column in 1998 would have been much harder.' Indeed, Piëch had tried to buy Rolls-Royce, Volvo Trucks, BMW, Cosworth, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti all in that year, succeeding with the last four and setting about planning a sprawling new model range using monstrous engines. The world had its first glimpse of Veyron madness at the 1998 Paris motor show: the EB118, an ostentatious coupé concept with a 555bhp 6.3-litre W18 engine that 'arose from a simple sketch [Piëch had] made on a serviette during a dinner'.At the 1999 Geneva motor show, even while Volkswagen's W12-engined Syncro supercar was still on the cards, Bentley revealed an 8.0-litre W18 supercar of its own and Bugatti the EB218 concept, a saloon version of the EB118. The intention was for the brand to return to the market position it had enjoyed in its original pre-war form, so 'Volkswagen insiders were buoyed that the Mercedes team developing their own limousine, the Maybach, awarded the EB218 'benchmark' status after visiting Bugatti's stand', we reported. This was shortly followed by the 18/3 Chiron and 18/4 Veyron supercar concepts, which were much closer in style to what we know today. In 2000, though, it emerged that development of the W18 had slowed. 'It seems the cost of having both 16- and 18-cylinder engines frightens even Piëch,' we suggested. Soon after we sampled the 18/4 Veyron on condition of silence, and the big boss told us: 'We have the technology under control.' Clearly they didn't, though, because only a few months later, the supercar evolved into the 16/4 Veyron. Instead of three banks of two three-cylinder engines in line, it had VR8s grafted together into a W16 – much simpler. Nevertheless, there were fears that the Veyron project had become too expensive, even for Piëch and even after all the other planned Bugatti models had been canned. Brand president Karl-Heinz Neumann, who was also in charge of the entire group's powertrains, reassured us: 'Volkswagen has the money. From the end of 2003 or the beginning of 2004, we plan to build 50 Veyrons a year – a total of 200.' But by August 2003, Neumann had been 'given his marching orders'. 'Despite the upheaval,' we said, 'Bugatti officials deny the supercar's performance claims will be scaled back. They say the four-wheel-drive Veyron will hit 60mph in just 2.9sec and top 252mph.' And upon launch in September 2005, the Veyron did so. In fact, it was even quicker, hitting 60mph in 2.5sec. We were delighted and quite relieved to be able to at long last experience 'a peculiar cacophony that sounds a bit like two TVRs on full reheat plus an industrial-strength air hose' being 'accompanied by mind-bending, heart-stopping acceleration, the like of which has never been felt before in a road car'. ]]>
Top Gear
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
The Bugatti Veyron was first sketched on a Japanese bullet train with a W18 engine
Supercars Bugatti opens the history books to show us four concepts that paved the way Skip 10 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Around 25 years ago, the late Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch said he wanted to build a car that boasted 1,001PS and would be capable of over 400kmh. They'd figure out to get there along the way, but the targets had been set. Interestingly, the all-conquering Veyron was originally planned to have a W18 engine. Bugatti has released these concept car pics outlining the journey from Piëch's train ride to the fastest car in the world, taking in a few very important concepts. Advertisement - Page continues below It was that original ride on a Japanese Shinkansen – the 'bullet train' – back in 1997 where Piëch sketched out an 18-cylinder powerhaus that'd fuel his dream of 1,001PS and 400kmh+. He asked Italdesign's Giorgetto Giugiaro to deliver him a concept capable of bearing such a thing. The front-engined EB 118 arrived at the 1998 Paris Motor Show as a massive two-door homage to the Type 57CS Atlantic whose long bonnet hid a 6.3-litre naturally aspirated W18 engine with 555PS (547bhp). A long way off his target, but the stage had been set. You might like A year later came the EB 218, also designed by GG, this time taking the form of a lavish front-engined four-door that doffed its considerable cap to both the Type 41 Royale and the earlier EB 112 concept from the Artioli era. Longer than the EB 118, it too was powered by that 547bhp W18 lurking under the nose. It took until September 1999 for Bugatti to shuffle the W18 to the middle with the reveal of the EB 18/3 Chiron. This time, GG's son Fabrizio was in charge of the pencil case, adjusting the shape to accommodate the 547bhp W18 in the middle of the car. It's the point where the Veyron really began to take shape, all cab-forward aggression wrapped up in a two-door coupe. Advertisement - Page continues below A month later, it'd morph again into the EB 18/4 concept penned not by the Giugiaros, but in-house by Jozef Kaban, credited with the final Veyron's design. Named after Bugatti's development and test driver Pierre Veyron – who'd won at Le Mans – the 18/4 originally debuted with the same W18. But, 'the immense challenge of reliably extracting over 1,000PS', as well as managing the heat and complexity of the nat-asp W18 meant in 2000, it was downsized by two cylinders to an 8.0-litre W16. It was also turbocharged to within an inch of its life – four, don't forget – which allowed Bugatti to hit its targets. And lo, the Veyron arrived. (And yes, around the same time, Bugatti's stablemates were toying with their own Veyron-esque creations, in the shape of the 1999 Bentley Hunaudières and 2000 Audi Rosemeyer concepts. Both featured a WR16 layout.) Not a bad motor, that Veyron, by all accounts. Pretty quick. Quite luxurious. Bit expensive. Produced 1,001PS (987bhp) and of course, went on to very much exceed 400kmh in the Super Sport. Job done. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Auto Car
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
How the Bugatti Veyron went from harebrained idea to a 252mph, €1 million production reality
At the 1999 Geneva motor show, even while Volkswagen's W12-engined Syncro supercar was still on the cards, Bentley revealed an 8.0-litre W18 supercar of its own and Bugatti the EB218 concept, a saloon version of the EB118. The intention was for the brand to return to the market position it had enjoyed in its original pre-war form, so 'Volkswagen insiders were buoyed that the Mercedes team developing their own limousine, the Maybach, awarded the EB218 'benchmark' status after visiting Bugatti's stand', we reported. This was shortly followed by the 18/3 Chiron and 18/4 Veyron supercar concepts, which were much closer in style to what we know today. In 2000, though, it emerged that development of the W18 had slowed. 'It seems the cost of having both 16- and 18-cylinder engines frightens even Piëch,' we suggested. Soon after we sampled the 18/4 Veyron on condition of silence, and the big boss told us: 'We have the technology under control.' Clearly they didn't, though, because only a few months later, the supercar evolved into the 16/4 Veyron. Instead of three banks of two three-cylinder engines in line, it had VR8s grafted together into a W16 – much simpler. Nevertheless, there were fears that the Veyron project had become too expensive, even for Piëch and even after all the other planned Bugatti models had been canned.
News18
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- News18
From Bugatti Chiron To Ferrari SF90, List Of Supercar Fans Want To See In GTA Game
Last Updated: In this article, we have created a list of supercars that fans are going crazy over, and dying to use or see in GTA VI. Scroll down to know the full list with engine specs. Ever since the first official trailer of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) dropped on the internet, it has taken the whole internet by storm, smashing 475 million views in 24 hours. The franchise has already attracted both Genz's and Millennials, who want to see some supercars roaring in Vice City's streets. In this article, we have created a list of supercars that fans are going crazy over, and dying to use or see in GTA VI. Scroll down to know the full list with engine specs and power output. Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ The list has been topped by none other than the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300, the spiritual successor to the Veyron. The masterpiece is a perfect blend of engineering and performance. The model alone can break any speed records in the GTA world as it offers a claimed top speed of around 489 kmph. The franchise has already featured Bugatti-inspired cars like the Adder (Veyron), and fans now want to experience an improved and faster version. Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut Name it, and this hypercar surely will have it. Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut has mastered all departments, a big thanks to insane engine specs and a smartly created design by keeping all the aerodynamics rules in mind. The brand was absent from the GTA universe, and now fans are desperately hoping to see it in the game. In case you are not aware, Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut uses a 5.0l Twin-Turbo V8 engine and generates an insane 1,600 hp, and has a top speed of over 498 kmph (theoretical). Ferrari SF90 Stradale Last but not least, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale. The model has unlocked a new era in Ferrari's world, all credit goes to the signature style with thumping combustion engines with roaring exhaust note. If it arrives in the GTA, the fans will get to experience insane acceleration and top-notch handling, perfect for high-stakes missions or luxury street cruising. First Published: May 12, 2025, 12:31 IST
