Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of our time with the Bugatti Veyron

We already know that Bugatti's second vehicle in the modern era will be a targa-top version of the Veyron 16.4, but AutoExpress has revealed that production of the open-air exotica will be limited to just 80 units compared to the coupe's comparatively ample run of 300 cars. The cost of letting the sun shine through your Veyron's dome will also be more prohibitive, with a price tag creeping up on £900,000 compared to the £840,000 cost of the coupe. As with most open-air cars, the Veyron's chassis will be made beefier to cope with the loss of rigidity caused by a big hole in its roof. As such, the new car will weigh more than than the record-setting original. Top speed will therefore be relatively limited, if one can call a 217-mph top speed limited. Then again, as we learned while driving the car ourselves, every car is limited compared to the original Veyron.


[Source: AutoExpress]

Click to view the Bugatti Veyron's unveiling in Beijing

If you were looking for the new epitome of capitalism's slow-but-steady takeover of communism in China, we've got it for you right here. Bugatti brought its million-euro hyper-car this year to the Auto China show in Beijing, drawing hoards of spectators in its appropriate bright red paint job. What's more is that within two hours of the car's debut, Bugatti had already sold one.

The customer will fly to Bugatti's Molsheim headquarters to pick out the color scheme and options (apparently no one told him he could do it online), and pay a whopping 25 million yuan (approximately $3.6 million, more than twice the sticker price) for the privilege of owning the first Veyron in China. Mao who?

Click on the images below and the press release after the jump for more on the Veyron's unveiling in Beijing.

[Source: Bugatti and Gasgoo]

We've known as much for a while, but according to a Georges Keller, a Bugatti spokesperson quoted by Automotive News, a drop-top Veyron is in the works and is due to launch sometime next year. Details are scarce, but according to an unnamed ex-Bugatti executive, the targa-topped hypercar will feature a removable hardtop, but its overtly wealthy owners will have to plan ahead, since there won't be any room in the Bug to store the roof on the go. According to the anonymous exec, the decision to go with a hard top instead of some kind of cloth piece was due to the design of the Veyron's safety cage. Certainly a good call considering the Veyron's potential.


[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

Exotic automakers have been lining up like their customers to get their supercars onto the latest driving simulators. If you own an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, the excitement has been palatable. If you prefer to get your horsepower kicks in front of your computer, however, you've probably been feeling a little left out as the lists of new cars for games like Forza 2 and the upcoming GT5 Prologue have been flowing like octane. But we've got good news for racing enthusiasts on any platform, as Electronic Arts has announced a new update for its Need for Speed: ProStreet game.

ProStreet is the eleventh installment of the popular Need for Speed series, with versions available for Xbox, Playstation and PC. The latest bit of DLC (downloadable content) is anticipated to include two new tracks and no fewer than 16 new cars. Among them: the Bugatti Veyron. The street-racing theme of the game seems an odd choice for Bugatti to grant its first license, but opens the question as to whether we'll see the Veyron appear in other games soon. Meanwhile the Veyron won't be the only new exciting piece of virtual machinery streaming to a system near you, as the expansion pack is also anticipated to include such mouthwatering wheels as the Aston Martin DBR9, Audi R8, Koenigsegg CCX and McLaren F1, just to name a few.

Check out the video after the jump to see the Veyron on the ProStreet customizing screen, cycling through even more options than Bugatti's own online configurator.

[Source: techAU via The German Car Blog]

Click image for a high-res gallery of the Bugatti Veyron

Congratulations, and a toast with a pair of champagne glasses, to Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. for selling 220 of their ultra-exotic Veyron 16.4 models. With 132 examples sitting safely in customer garages worldwide (except for this one...doh!), and 88 more on firm order, Bugatti is moving closer to the end of its reported 300-car production run.

We told you last year that demand has been strong for the 16-cylinder quad-turbo model. With deposits on the $1.4 million cars quickly pushing the waiting list to over a year, Bugatti increased production last July to bring the wait to under twelve months. Simply being otherworldly drivers isn't necessarily enough, either. With customers showing more interest in "special" cars, the factory is authorizing an "individualisation programme" to meet those requests. These days, if the "standard" Bugatti just doesn't do it for you, there is always the Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang with its polished aluminum body and unpainted carbon fiber. Not plush enough? Then try the opulent Bugatti Veyron Fbg Hermes for some exclusivity. Or, maybe you'd prefer the Bugatti Pegaso Edition instead?

Regardless of which Veyron floats your boat, if you're considering adding yourself to the lucky list of 220, do yourself a favor and check out the Bugatti online configurator before you march into one of the 32 sales locations around the world. Their available 'exterior color' palette is quite overwhelming, so you may want to take a few minutes to mull over it before you commit.

[Source: German Car Scene]

Ah, the Bugatti Veyron. It's astonishingly powerful, sexy as hell, and only 300 will ever be made. Among the 300 Veyrons, the five rarest and most coveted models carry the Pur Sang moniker. It's stunning paint-free aluminum and carbon fiber body are bold enough to make even the wealthiest Dubai oil baron blush. There were likely many filthy rich people who missed out on the chance to bag a Pur Sang, as all five models were snapped up inside 24 hours. If you lost out the first time and had to settle for a Reventon or four Ferraris, we have good news. One Pur Sang is back on the market, but it's going to cost one of the world's wealthy almost twice as much as it did less than six months ago.

Italian dealer Rag Gianfranco Favero is selling its precious Pur Sang on the finecars website for the low price of only 3.2M Euro. The 1001-hp, 253-mph supercar has only 48 miles on the odometer, which, quite frankly, makes us scratch our heads. It's unimaginable that anyone could hold onto a Veyron for six months and drive it only 48 miles. Like it would be worth any less money if it had 800 miles on it.

[Source: Finecars]

We told you about the Bugatti Hermès Veyron two weeks ago. At the time, it appeared the uber-special Veyron would just have an ultra high-end interior package. Now, with the first pre-Geneva peek of a Bugatti Hermès Veyron, we are learning the exterior may get some special touches, as well. Although the car in the picture is almost entirely hidden by a blue fabric car cover, two new vertical slats appear flanking each side of the grill, which obviously imply other elements of the Veyron's visage will also change. Are these the only exterior "upgrades" to the million-dollar-plus Bugatti Hermès Veyron? We'll let you know when we see it in Geneva next week. Until then, hit up the source below to see the car covered in full.

[Source: CarAdvice]

Speculation over a potential second model from Bugatti has been a colossal roller-coaster. There were rumors of a super-luxury sedan, an entry-level roadster and a targa variant of the existing Veyron.

The Veyron was a pet project of former VW Group CEO Ferdinand Piech, who remains chairman of the VW supervisory board and is said to be keen on moving ahead with a follow-up to the Veyron. When Martin Winterkorn took over, however, he was reported to have shelved any plans for an additional model, prompting Bugatti CEO Thomas Bscher to resign. Bugatti then shifted to the control of Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen, who, after shoehorning the Veyron's engine into a Bentley Arnage luxury sedan, revealed last September that there would be an additional Bugatti coming.

Reports are now surfacing which indicate that the new model could be an even more expensive, even faster supercar than the Veyron. Whereas the Veyron, for all its enormous, time-bending power and speed, was designed as a comfortable grant tourer, the new model would be a tighter, more track-focused supercar. Power would likely come from a retuned version of the Veyron's 8-liter quad-turbo W16, which was long reported to be under-rated in its power production of 1000 hp, and is tipped to produce 1175 hp in the new version. Artistic renderings from German magazine Auto Motor und Sport depict the car with styling more akin to a Le Mans racer, with a protruding front splitter and an enormous rear wing.

The vehicle, currently rumored to be code-named "Project Lydia" after Ettore Bugatti's wife, would exceed the 400km/h top speed of the Veyron in pursuit of a Nurburgring lap time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. While these reports could very well turn out to be no more substantial than previous ones, if Bugatti did built Project Lydia in a reported run of 70 examples for a whopping Є2.5 million apiece, it would easily eclipse anything else out there.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via Motor Authority]

Here's a little Friday schadenfreude, courtesy of some person with a video camera in Vegas. The awesome Bugatti Veyron drinks gasoline at a prodigious rate, so keep an eye on that fuel gauge next time, guys. Remember, the Internet is watching. And laughing.

[Source: YouTube via German Car Blog]

It's been a while since we got a fresh batch of Bugatti Veyron Spider/Targa rumors, but Autogespot has ended the lull with inside sources claiming that a prototype of the open-air supercar is already on the road and that sales will begin next year. Apparently, the only downside to lopping off the roof on a car capable of hitting 400 km/h (248 mph) is that aero restrictions are going to limit the speed to a pedestrian 340 km/h (211 mph). We can sense your disappointment, but that's not even the worst of it. The removable roof won't be able to be stored on the go, so if the sky opens up mid-jaunt, you'll be forced to construct a makeshift roof out of the spare $100 bills lining your pockets.

[Source: Autogespot]