Written by by Staff Writer at CNN; photographs by Ila Deulga; video by Sebastian Osterberg
It’s a big moment at Bugatti. The company is closing in on 50 years of existence, which marks an astonishing amount of time when talking about high-end and performance vehicles.
Seven of Bugatti’s supercars, including the iconic 200mph Chiron, currently occupy a place of pride at the German car maker’s factory in Chateau de Lavers, south of Paris.
The newest addition to the brand’s collection, Chiron Sport, was launched Tuesday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The event is part automotive festival, part rock show, and it wraps up Wednesday.
The new model will cost around 200,000 euros ($212,825) and will be fitted with an all-wheel drive system and re-engineered engine.
Potential customers can’t wait to take delivery of the new model. “We expect the launch of Chiron Sport will immediately impact our registrations significantly,” Bugatti managing director Jacques Perrey tells CNN.
Promoted as a night and day contrast to the Chiron, the Sport version is its most extreme yet, with eight-cylinder engine and 22-inch wheels. It also comes with a lightweight four-wheel drive system, a longer wheelbase and a new gearbox.
Chiron Sport 0 – 0.6 seconds
The sports model will complete the line-up alongside the Chiron Roadster, which goes on sale in January.
Bugatti has struggled to meet demand for the Chiron Roadster since it first launched last year, with orders from buyers in Asia and the Americas , mainly for private collectors, flooding in.
But Bugatti says that it is looking to move the number of production units from 200 — only two units were built last year — to about 750 over the next couple of years.
Bookings for Chiron Sport have already been made, giving the luxury car maker the opportunity to understand the reception and build up a loyal following. “We knew that the Chiron Sport would be an interesting transition — within four months of launching the Roadster we started booking,” Perrey says.
An upgraded version of the Chiron that only goes 0 to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds — which just misses the 6.2 second record — will go on sale this summer.
Achilleas Georgiou, managing director of Bugatti’s parent company Volkswagen, believes the Chiron has already become a “supercar legend.” “I fully expect that the production of Chiron Sport will coincide with an increase in the customer base,” he says.
Bugatti is not the only one enjoying success at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. BMW Group is rolling out a fleet of shiny new supercars in Luton, a small town northwest of London.
It has some familiar names on show, but not the supercar brand of choice — Rolls-Royce. The new variants, including the Dawn Series One, First Dawn and First Drophead, are all smart-looking, but don’t look like anything which would normally make it past Rolls-Royce’s extensive vetting process.
What will they have to do to get on the showroom floor? According to Rolls, new models entering its production line must “significantly improve the experience of the motor-racing customer and improve their overall satisfaction.”