Promises agility and dynamism like nothing else.
French hypercar marque Bugatti has, for the better part of its life, has only ever had one model at any given time. This trend remained following the Volkswagen Group’s acquisition of the brand in 1998, and the 2005 introduction of the Veyron.
But that seems like it’s about to change. The French firm released a teaser image today of a hand-stitched name, in a unique shade of blue, onto what appears to be Alcantara. And ‘Divo’ is no ordinary name.
“Happiness is not around the corner: It is the corner. The Divo is made for corners. With the Divo, we want to thrill people throughout the world. With this project, the Bugatti team has an opportunity to interpret the brand DNA in terms of agile, nimble handling in a significantly more performance-oriented way.” — Stephan Winkelmann, President, Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
Did they just tacitly admit that the Chiron (and preceding Veyron) are actually too heavy to be of much use on a track? Anyway, the Divo name comes from famed French racing driver Albert Divo, who clinched the win twice at the Targa Florio race in Sicily behind the wheel of a Bugatti in the late 1920s. The modern Divo will also keep to the requirements of 1920s racing cars, and so it promises to be light and nimble, and offer immense downforce and G-force.
*Albert Divo, the French racing driver who won Targa Florio twice for Bugatti
And they said it’ll be “underlined by a new, strong design language,” which suggests that the Bugatti Divo might be more than an uptuned, uprated Chiron in execution. This is further alluded to by Bugatti claiming it is “reviving its coach building tradition,” though a Chiron base is also hinted at as “in the first decades of its history, the French luxury brand had considerable success with bodies designed in-house and installed on existing chassis.”
Just 40 Bugatti Divos will be made, each bearing a price tag of €5-million (or near-as-dammit $8-million). The Divo will make its debut at ‘The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering’ in California on the 24th of August.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
