The Bugatti Veyron and Chiron already both rank in the top ten fastest cars, ever. But in the never-ending arms race for the extreme, Bugatti thinks it can one-up itself. Today, in front of the super sophisticated audience that the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance tends to attract, company bosses pulled back an electric blue sheet to reveal the Bugatti Divo. (Cue gentle applause from the well-dressed crowd.)
Bugatti has found its automotive niche—building road-going hypercars—and the Divo pushes the definition as far as possible by iterating on the Chiron. The sheet gradually revealed mat grey bodywork underneath, rippling with sharp angles and gaping inlets. In your rear-view mirror, this thing would look like an angry shark.
“For us, the design has to be recognizable as a real Bugatti,” says Stephan Winkelmann, president of the brand. That means there’s a giant horseshoe shaped grille, a center line that runs over the hood and the roof of the car, and scoop-shaped signature lines on the doors. “These are the three keys elements that certify a Bugatti, even if you don’t see the logo,” he says.
The huge inlets mean engineers have been able to improve cooling and increase downforce by 198 pounds over the Chiron, with the help of a 23 percent larger rear wing. The car is also 77 pounds lighter.
Engineers stiffened the chassis, and increased the camber of the wheels for better handling. “It also looks very cool on the car,” says Winkelmann.
Bugatti didn’t reveal a 0 to 60, but top speed is 236 mph, and it says the car can handle the Nardò track in southern Italy a full eight seconds faster than the Chiron.
Propulsion comes from an eight-liter, W16 engine, which makes 1,500 horsepower. (No nods to our electric future here.) Drivers will only be able to make use of all that on a track, where the car would look perfectly at home, with a blue stripe highlighting the front splitter and sills. The stripe motif is also carried into the interior, with bright blue accents on the racing seats and steering wheel.
If you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it. (But for the Divo, it’s $5.80 million.) You’re also too late. Bugatti is only making 40 cars, and they’ve all sold.
While automakers are resigning themselves to an EV future, they're still working to make fast, desirable, electric cars, and even supercars. Pininfarina is showing its $2 million PF0 to a select group of potential buyers at Pebble, for example, and VW’s ID-R electric smashed the Pikes Peak record in June. But by selling out before it’s even revealed, the Bugatti Divo is proving there’s still demand for the most hyper-ish of cars, no matter how silly the stats.
