The Bugatti Veyron has had a good run. It debuted back in 2005 as the fastest production car in the world, and retained that title for most of the last decade. All good things must come to an end, though.
Bugatti only ever planned to sell 450 Veyrons, and back in December the carmaker said it was down to the final eight production slots. Now, it seems those have been accounted for.
The final Veyron will be presented at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show next month, Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Durheimer told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
That car will likely be one of the Grand Sport Vitesse convertibles, the other models having already sold out. Bugatti probably has a buyer lined up, too.
Essentially an open-topped version of the Veyron Super Sport, the Vitesse features the same 1,200-horsepower version of the Bugatti 8.0-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 engine, and achieved a top speed of 254 mph on Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessein test track back in 2013.
Once Veyron production is concluded, Bugatti will move on to a successor model. However Durheimer, who also heads fellow VW Group property Bentley, said it may not arrive for awhile.
While he previously said there would be “no downtime” between the end of Veyron production and the builds of prototypes for the next Bugatti, Durheimer now says the development process will take some time.
He said Bugatti cars are works of art, and like good art, it takes time to get them right.
The new model is expected to be another supercar, possibly called Chiron, possibly boasting 1,500 hp, and possibly with a hybrid powertrain. There are lots of possibilities, but nothing has been confirmed so far.
Durheimer said the new Bugatti must “do everything better than its predecessor,” and given the superlative qualities of the Veyron, perhaps it’s not surprising that the company is taking its time.
