Bugatti has revealed the design conception of their latest megacar, the Chiron, showing us that the car could have looked far bolder than the production version turned out to be.
As the production run of the Veyron was coming to a close, executives at the Volkswagen held a Group-wide design contest of sorts to gain input across the wide swath of intrepid designers across its many divisions. The idea to effectively crowd source a new Bugatti paid off, with designs coming from those working within Skoda, Seat, Porsche, etc.
After sifting through the many submissions, Lamborghini designer Sasha Selipanov’s stood out and so the designer was plucked to work with Bugatti full time. Selipanov’s styling for the next Bugatti involved some rather bold cues, most noticeably starting with a pair of air intakes up front with headlamps hidden in black amid the nearly unnoticeable grille.
A thin but expectedly bright LED strips would outline this front maw, acting as daytime running lights and turn indicators. The rear of the car was notable too, with a reverse double-bubble type opening to allow for proper cooling of the uprated 8.0-litre W16 engine.
What followed was a quickly built prototype but unfortunately top brass at Volkswagen rejected the new face, deeming its design too much of a departure. Most of the rest of the car did stay in and was then dressed up in racy garb to be featured as Bugatti’s Vision GT racer.
Earlier this year at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, Bugatti unveiled the Chiron, which was as expected, a design that very much resembled the car they had showed off months prior but sans the added motorsport-oriented bits and pieces. In a way, that staggered unveiled tempered the public’s reaction to the Chiron. However, we have no doubt that it will impress no matter what you think of it’s exterior design.
There was a lot of speculation about what Bugatti would come up with that could match or potentially surpass their first outing, the Veyron, after being newly integrated under the Volkswagen Group.
That car was a colossus in terms of the energy and sheer engineering effort thrown into the project, eventually resulting in the 746kW quad-turbo W16 8.0-litre engine mega car that quite rightly defined the decade when it arrived in 2005.
Earlier this year, however, Bugatti responded by officially unveiling the Chiron – a 1,500hp (1,118kW) follow-up to the landmark Veyron that built upon it’s merging of fantastical speed with money-no-object luxury.
The Chiron looked like it truly was crafted from the same mould as the Veyron that preceded it, but was decidedly more evolutionary. One could even argue that the Veyron was distinctive during its debut year, but even then could not be described as outrageous. Bugatti, after all, isn’t in the business of automotive ostentation – that’s a role reserved for, fittingly, Lamborghini.
