Update: Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron
Though running late, VW's million-dollar baby is on its way
By Karl Ludvigsen
Motor Trend, December 2003

The great, near-great, and merely wealthy convened in Monaco the week after that principality's Formula One race to admire the new Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron at its official launch. This was the world's first chance to see and hear the compact black-and-blue coupe, which impressed with its exhaust's suave rumble.


A different, but no less enthusiastic, crowd saw a Veyron in action at the Monterey Historic Races in August. A lurid on-track spin that nearly cost the company one of its prototypes really got everyone's attention. No extrovert hot rod this: Instead, the Veyron declared its presence at the apex of the world's car hierarchy as a silken glove encasing a mighty mailed fist.

Some fist: The mid-engine Veyron's original power unit was an 18-cylinder in three banks, but this has been replaced by a 90-degree W-16. Each eight-cylinder bank is remarkably compact thanks to the disposition of its cylinders in a narrow vee as in so many VW Group designs. The 16, which first powered a Veyron prototype in August 2002, displaces an ample 7993 cc--that's 488 cubic inches. Equipped with four turbochargers, this powerplant is now developing--wait for it--a staggering 1200 horsepower. It will be detuned to only 1001 horsepower (a mere 987 ponies in U.S. trim) for production.

"One thousand horsepower requires some cooling," said VW Chief Bernd Pischetsrieder at the Veyron's launch, referring to intense debates between chief stylist Hartmut Warkuss and Bugatti boss Karl-Heinz Neumann over the size and placement of cooling holes in its body. As a reward for creating both Bugatti engines, Neumann was put in charge of the Bugatti project by former VW head Ferdinand Piech, whose idea it was to relaunch the classic brand. Neumann, however, has since been sidelined, and the Veyron will be finished by VW's Audi/ Lamborghini/Bentley entities.

Early this year, work began on building the factory in Bugatti's spiritual home (Molsheim in France's Alsace region) that will produce the Veyron. Expected to be completed in October, the new plant will deliver its first European Veyron late in 2004--delayed from the hoped-for April date--and its first for the American market a half year later. Italy will be the source for its carbon-fiber monocoque and body panels.


The UK's Ricardo is engineering and building its four-wheel-drive system and twin-clutch seven-speed transaxle, which will take the new Bugatti to 155 mph in fourth gear, 193 in fifth, 224 in sixth, and a record-shattering 252 mph in seventh.

That 252 mph isn't quite ready for delivery, says a source close to the car's development. It's stable up to 200 mph, with its automatic rear-wing extension, but it needs some work above that. Nor is the complicated driveline ready: The engine's 920 pound-feet of torque are tearing up its transmission's gears, creating what one engineer calls "tooth salad." Michelin hasn't completed development of its critical PAX-system run-flat tires. But VW's Audi Group has the resources to solve these problems.

Over four to five years, Bugatti Automobiles SAS expects to produce some 300 Veyrons. Orders are already rolling in for this ultimate conversation piece, priced at the Euro equivalent of $1,175,000. During dinner at Monaco, I had one confirmed order on my left and four on my right, so the future of this Bugatti--an automotive Harry Winston diamond--seems bright. All they have to do is get it to work--and get it to market.

--Karl Ludvigsen