As I said in my post-mortem on Ferdinand Piëch’s tenure at the Volkswagen Group, the Bugatti Veyron was so insane that it made the Phaeton look like a sound business decision. So how does the VW Group top that? According to the report, with more. More everything.
At the moment we know unfortunately very little about the Veyron successor, reportedly named the Bugatti Chiron after a famous prewar racing driver. But the UK’s Car magazine claims some new inside info on the car.
Namely, they say that a W16 engine will stick around, although engineers considered dropping it down to 14 cylinders. No word yet on whether that’s an evolution of the Veyron’s 8.0-liter engine or an all-new motor, but my guess is the former.
They say the Chiron will put out as much as 1,500 horsepower and an oddly specific 1,106 pound-feet of torque, with a top speed of 288 mph. This equates to a zero to 60 mph time of just two seconds flat.
If that’s true, it will make the Chiron considerably quicker and more powerful than the Veyron and even the three hybrid hypercars. The ‘H’ word doesn’t get mentioned in Car’s preview, but it will be working with some other stuff:
This will be the new tech showcase for the VW brand - featuring cylinder deactivation, electric-actuated turbocharging and direct injection, to make sure the Chiron will be able to achieve 14mpg. The Veyron could drain its fuel tank in just eight minutes at full chat…
A whole 14 MPG?!? Call your wife and tell her to sell the Prius, your ship has finally come in!
Take all this with a grain of salt for now, but the next Chiron should push the envelope even further. Considering the staggering amount of money VW is reported to have lost on each Veyron, it’s amazing this car is happening at all, especially post-Piëch.
We eagerly await its debut, as do all the other billionaires bored of driving their Veyrons.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.