Bugatti Renaissance Design Concept: Veyron Supercar Reinterpreted

We’re not sure when or if Bugatti will present a direct successor to the 1,001-horsepower Veyron, but if the VW Group-owned company does, John Mark Vicente, a Canadian graduate of the Communication Design program at the Emily Carr University, would like to believe that it may look something like this. Named the Bugatti Renaissance, the conceptual proposal builds on the qualities of the 16-cylinder supercar. Hit the jump to check out the rest of the photos.

Source: Jmvdesign , Via: Carpictures

Bugatti Files Trademarks for 16C Galibier Sport Sedan

The bean counters over at the Volkswagen Group are still gauging customer reactions to the Bugatti 16C Galibier concept to see if there’s enough interest to build a production version, but just to be on the safe side – we all remember the Chinese Rolls Royce Phantom clone – they decided to trademark the design of the sports saloon at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The trademark was applied for the concept model, so there’s new to be seen in the design sketches.

If the 16C Galibier receives the ‘green light’, it will most likely go on sale after Bugatti ends production of the Veyron production in 2012.

The almost production-ready concept model features a 16-cylinder, 8.0-litre flex-fuel engine with two-stage supercharging that is believed to produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 horsepower.

Power is channeled to all-four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission while Bugatti also developed a unique suspension and special ceramic brakes for the sports saloon.

Bugatti Unveils Trio of Special Edition Veyrons at Dubai Motor Show

To honor the importance of the Middle East market to its automotive business, Bugatti swiped the wraps off two unique cars, the Veyron “Sang d’Argent” and the Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit”, as well as a special series of five Veyrons dubbed “Nocturne”, all of which will be sold only in the Middle East, at this week’s Dubai International Motor Show.

Limited to just five units, the Veyron Nocturne sports a black finish with polished aluminum body parts and custom rims along with galvanized side windows. Inside, this special edition Veyron features a black nanocoated magnesium dashboard and a centre console in galvanized Platinum.

Moving on to the one-off specials, the Veyron “Sang d’Argent” coupe combines a silver paint finish with polished aluminium parts and a Havanna interior with quilting pattern on seats and saddle and other personalized items.

The Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit” features a two-tone paint scheme with the Black Blue Metallic color enriched by mirror shine body parts and trim while the interior is finished in a strong burnt orange shade.

All three cars will be available for delivery to their Middle East owners in the first quarter of 2010 with prices ranging from €1.45 million for the “Sang d’Argent” and €1.55 million for the “Soleil de Nuit”, the Veyron and Grand Sport one-off models, to €1.65 million for the five car “Nocturne” series.

Bugatti Veyron Lake Crash: The Aftermath in Pictures

In what could be described as one of the most well documented exotic car incidents on the net, following the actual crash footage of the Bugatti Veyron and video of the vehicle as it was being pulled out of the saltwater pond in Texas, our friends from ‘Jalopnik’ have now secured photos of the 1,001 horsepower supercar in all its soggy glory. Click through to see how a Veyron looks like after taking an accidental dip into a lake.

See the Rest of the photos here: Jalopnik

1200hp “Super Veyron” winds the rumor mill again

A car as powerful as the Bugatti Veyron can do a great many things. Crest the 400 km/h mark. Burn through fuel and rubber faster than a jumbo jet on take-off with the parking brake engaged. But how about stop time? Maybe if you lay down all that twist in the opposite direction off the earth’s rotation. Or bring back a rumor that first reared its head some four years ago.

We’re talking about the long-rumored 1,200-horsepower “super Veyron.” Its arrival has been anticipated for years, and now accounts from Germany are bringing it back to life. According to the reports, Professor Ferdinand Piëch – the former Volkswagen chairman, Porsche heir and father of the Veyron – recently delivered a lecture at the Vienna University of Technology, wherein he briefly alluded to the emergence of the 1,200-hp Veyron, but revealed no further details.

That the quad-turbocharged, sixteen-cylinder Bugatti engine is capable of more than its stated output of 987 horsepower is no secret. And if such a car is in the works, surely Piëch would be among the few in the world who’d know about it, even if he’s not sitting in the big seat these days. With the existing Veyron’s production run winding to a close, if there were ever a time to make it happen, surely that time is approaching at Veyron-esque velocity.

Rumormill: Bugatti developing secret Continental GT-based electric supercar

With production of the Veyron coming to an end, speculation has been rampant over what Bugatti will build next. A super-sedan based on the 16C Galibier concept could still get the green light. A 1,200-horsepower “Super Veyron” has also re-entered the rumor mill of late. Even an entry-level roadster was mooted at one point. But a new project could give us a clearer (and more radical) picture than ever before.

According to the rumormongers over at Auto Express, Bugatti is currently working on a massively powerful electric supercar that could eclipse the notions of what was previously thought possible with battery power. A test mule based on sister-company Bentley’s ubiquitous Continental GT is reportedly undergoing testing at present, powered by two giant electric motors and an advanced lithium-ion power cell to deliver the equivalent of 800 horsepower and some 1,600 lb-ft of torque, all available instantly from a standstill. Yowza!

Such technology would doubtlessly draw from the work sister-company Audi has been doing with its successive e-Tron concepts. But as AE points out, this wouldn’t be the first time Bugatti has experimented with electric power: Back in its heyday under founder Ettore Bugatti’s direction, the original company built theType 56. Originally built as a one-off, public demand prompted the Molsheim marque to bring it to market.

The rumored Continental-based prototype may be strictly a one-off at the moment, but if demand could force the Type 56 to market in the 1930s, it certainly could do the same today.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport sets land speed record at 267.81 mph!

As production of the Bugatti Veyron winds toward its eventual conclusion, Bugatti has created what is likely to be the ultimate version of its world-beating hypercar: the Super Sports. Bugatti sent its official test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel out on Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessian high-speed oval with the first Super Sports to see just what it could do. With representatives of the Guinness book of records and German Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV) on hand, Raphanel made passes around the big oval in both directions.

With output bumped up from 1,001 horsepower to 1,200 horsepower, torque swelling to 1,106 pound-feet and a revised aerodynamic kit, Raphanel managed runs of 265.9 and 269.8 mph for an average terminal velocity of 267.81 mph and a new world record for a production car.

The first five production Super Sports will sport the same black and orange finish as the record car and all production models will be electronically limited to 257.9 mph to protect the tires. The Veyron Super Sports will be publicly shown for the first time at the Pebble Beach in August. Click past the break for the full details

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s top speed will be 10 mph less than record

Oh what teases those Bugatti folks are. They brought the new Veyron Super Sport to Laguna Seca during classic car week here in Monterey… and did a parade lap at a pace about one-tenth of the car’s record-breaking 268-mile per hour top speed. We never expected it to take to the track in anger, but getting out of first gear would’ve been nice. Despite the slow speeds, we captured a bit of video that we think you might like.

Bugatti also announced a few details about the Super Sport that we hadn’t heard before. First, the SS will account for the final 40 Veyrons built in the car’s 300-unit run. Second, owners of the Super Sport might be saddened to learn that the car is going to be limited to just 258 miles per hour, 10 mph short of the terminal velocity it reached to set the land speed record for a production car back in early July. Bugatti was a bit tight-lipped on why, so we’re speculating it might be the tires. Actually it could be that the gas tank will now empty in 30 seconds while traveling at the car’s top speed, but who knows.

Bugatti looking for a student intern to drive Veyrons, fetch dry cleaning

Ah, to be in college again. The enlightenment. The drinking. The promiscuity. The million-dollar supercars. Wait, what?

That’s right. Bugatti is looking for a student intern at their office in Herndon, Virginia, to help coordinate their marketing and press relations activities. Like any internship, most of the job will probably come down to making coffee for and giving back rubs to your superiors. But in this case, the position entails scheduling – and crucially, transporting – the Bugatti press fleet, organizing events and the like.

You’ll need to be a college student to apply, and since the listing specifies they’ll be testing for drugs, that may narrow down the field considerably. That, and you’ll need to be located near Herndon, Virginia, which is fortunately just half an hour out of DC. So if you’re studying at Georgetown, GW, American U or any of the other campuses in or near the nation’s capital, keep your nose clean and like being around seven-figure exotics, click through the link below to apply.

2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

“It is not possible,” was the answer from Jens Schulenburg, Bugatti vehicle engineering chief. He was answering the question as to whether a standard Veyron could be modified to be as fast as the 2011 Super Sport edition. “It is like a domino effect,” he explained, “To get more horsepower, you need more cooling. To get more cooling, you need more airflow through more and bigger radiators. To accomplish this, you need to redesign the front end. When you do that, you change the aerodynamic balance of the car at speed. To rebalance the car, you need to change the roof and rear fascia.” Schulenburg could have kept going. For an hour.

We got the picture: The $2.58 million Super Sport is not a standard Veyron with a chip. Shame on you for even thinking that. Consider the Super Sport a Veyron 2.0 release; a significant re-engineering of the 1001-horsepower, sixteen-cylinder, quad-turbo, all-wheel-drive supercar.

But given the Veyron’s sales success – they’ve sold approximately 260 since the vehicle’s debut in 2005 – why go to all the trouble for a maximum of 40 cars? (Bugatti will cease Veyron coupe production at 300 units.) “Current Veyron owners wanted a more dynamic, exciting driving experience,” said Julius Kruta, Bugatti’s Head of Tradition. “Most of the orders booked for the Super Sport are from current Veyron owners. They asked us for a car that felt more extreme.” Is that even possible? We flew to Spain to find out.

The 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic at the Mullin Museum

My first time going to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was back in 2003. There were some incredible classic cars on the 18th fairway, with Ford celebrating its 100th anniversary and Bugatti as the featured marque. In the multitude of millions of dollars worth of cars, though, there was one car that stood out from all the others – Peter Williamson’s 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Despite my complete lack of knowledge of pre-war cars at the time, even I could recognize that the car had a presence about it that no other vehicle at the show could boast. My intuition was right, and the Bugatti eventually went on to win the coveted Best of Show award that year.

The Bugatti made the news again earlier this year when Gooding & Company announced it had sold the car to an unnamed buyer in the range of a record $30-$40 million. Soon after, it was announced that the car would be on display at the recently-opened Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA. Since I’m always looking for an excuse for the museum to let me look at their incredible collection of cars, I called them up and convinced them to let me have a look.

Report: Bugatti Veyron priced from $3.6M in India thanks to 110% taxation

If you live in India, your list of available supercars to purchase just grew by one very fast model. Bugatti has announced it will begin selling its Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport there. Undeterred by the nation’s 110-percent import tax, Bugatti is taking orders for the topless two-door, which will cost about 160 million rupees or $3.6 million USD. For reference, the same model would cost you about $2.24 million here in the United States or €1.6 million in places dealing with Euros. After receiving the orders, the cars will take six to eight months to be delivered

India is a blooming market for luxury goods manufacturers, and Ferrari plans to follow Bugatti by shipping over its California hardtop convertible sportscar. Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Land Rover are already selling in India… and selling quite well, as the number of Indian millionaires continues to grow.

If you do live in India, are in fact a multi-millionaire and are on the fence as to whether a Veyron belongs in your garage, we think you should re-read our First Drive of the Grand Sport. Case closed.

James May explains why supercars are ‘pointless’ – do you agree? [w/poll]

Here we go again. Dante should have made the question ‘Do Supercars Make any Sense?’ one of his levels of hell near Sisyphus, since so many people love to wail and moan and gnash their teeth on it in circular fashion. James May, a.k.a. Top Gear’s Captain Slow, has taken up the query and come to the conclusion that the speedy little devils are pointless.

He intends to make his point by asking, “what benefit has accrued to Italy, principal arbour of the mechanism of the Renaissance, by their existence?”, and then by comparing the effect that supercars have have on the world to the effects produced by Gore-Tex and penicillin and the radio and the Maxim gun. Mr. May, you have us there – we’d rather our doctor prescribed us antibiotics and not a Ferrari if we had a staph infection. That is, unless we had at least seven days to live, in which case we’d take the Ferrari and trade a ride in it for a prescription.

Most supercars are as useful and as pointless as marshmallows, with little technology actually trickling down to more affordable machinery – at least on a consistent basis. In fact, we’re mildly surprised there’s any debate left in this issue – even in jest. If May wants to talk about pointless things, let’s start with the Salad Shooter or anything else sold by infomercial.

Bugatti Veyron vs. BMW S1000 RR – Which is fastest?

Car guys insist that their four-wheeled machines are as fun as any motorcycle. The two-wheeled, leather-clad bike folks laugh at this notion, then scream off into the twisties at 9,000 rpm. The discussion can go back and forth until both parties are blue in the face. Inside Line decided it would be fun to put two powerful examples, one car and one motorcycle, to the test. These aren’t just run-of-the-mill vehicles, either: In one corner is a 2010 Bugatti Veyron while in the other sits a 2010 BMW S 1000 RR. The battleground? Forest roads around Molsheim, France

The Veyron obviously has the power advantage, thanks to its quad-turbo 8.0-liter W16 engine that produces 1,001 horsepower. The 190-horsepower BMW, however, has a huge weight advantage and the agile bike can get around any Citroën-shaped obstacles that it might come across.

The staff at Inside Line give the nod to the bike, for a number of valid reasons. It makes more sense in a day-to-day atmosphere, can slip through traffic, and when the luggage rack is applied it has more cargo capacity. The S 1000 RR also gains an edge when comparing maintenance costs. Changing a tire on a bike isn’t too much of a hit to the wallet, but to change the full set of rubber on the Bugatti costs $90,000. Furthermore, there are only two machines in the world capable of handling that job — one in France and another here in the US.

2011 Bentley Continental GT

When tasked with creating the 2011 Continental GT, Bentley officials sought the assistance of those who knew the outgoing car best – its owners. Upon querying current and past Continental GT buyers about what they’d like to see in the new model, a surprisingly unified voice came back loud and clear: “Don’t screw up my car, but fix the sat-nav.” As far as owner surveys go, this type of response speaks volumes. Most apparent is that it speaks to the universal inadequacy of the outgoing car’s wayfinding electronics, but more importantly, it serves to underscore just how much of a bull’s-eye Bentley hit with the original model back in 2003. After all, who among us can’t think of a laundry list of improvements for our daily driver? This also goes some way toward explaining how the GT has been on the market for eight years while still selling in respectable numbers.

Of course, given ever-toughening emissions and crash standards to contend with, Bentley couldn’t simply shove a new infotainment system in the Conti’s dashboard and amble off to the pub job-done, so they set about improving the car in a million little ways so that it’s at once clearly new and fresh to the faithful, yet endearingly familiar. Surprisingly, much the same can be said for the Sultanate of Oman where Bentley hosted our first drive…

Oops: Half-naked car dealer found with gun in Bentley

You know that old saying “don’t get caught with your pants down?” It means that you should always be prepared. But it also means that you literally shouldn’t get caught with your pants down. Too obvious? Tell that to Eugene Bernshtam, an auto dealer in the Chicago area who The Chicago Sun-Times reports was caught by police naked from the waist down in the front passenger seat of his 2006 Bentley.

Bernshtam reportedly told police that the reason he was found sans pants was because he had just urinated in an alley. Indecent exposure is a fairly serious crime that likely carries a hefty fine, so why was Bernshtam’s bail set at a steep $50,000? The (alleged) pantless luxury car driver also had a loaded hand gun in the car without a permit. Nice.

Bernshtam’s preliminary hearing will be held on November 9, and remember, pants are required in court.

Axl Rose sued by Bentley for leased car damage, exceeding allowance by 42,000 miles

Axl Rose, front man for hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, has an appetite for destruction and his latest target is reportedly a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur. According to celeb dish outlet TMZ.com, Rose is being sued by Bentley over a vehicle he leased. The car was given back several months after its scheduled date of return. That is just icing on a sweet cake of disregard however, as the car was allegedly returned with a cracked windshield, two damaged wheels, a broken taillight, a missing key, dents on the doors and damage to the bumper. Axl or his compadres also racked up serious seat time by going 42,000 miles over the lease limit.

The boys from Crewe have little Patience *ahem* for someone mistreating their property like this, and Bentley is suing Mr. Rose for nearly $74,000.

Bentley reportedly readying four-door coupe

The Mulsanne is still fresh. The new Continental GT has just arrived on scene. Bentley will undoubtedly have its hands full creating another couple of variations of each, but it’s not about to stop there. According to emerging reports from the British Isles, Crewe is planning a four-door coupe or five-door hatch to take on the likes of the Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera.

The reports come courtesy of Auto Express, who spoke with Bentley chief Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen about the company’s plans for the future, and this is what reportedly came up. Although styling is anticipated to follow the cues from the new Continental, the four-door coupe, if approved, would likely borrow its underpinnings from the Audi A7 while employing the new 4-liter V8 being co-developed with Audi. Pricing, meanwhile, could undercut the Continental and give Bentley a new entry-level model. One with a sleeker roofline to boot.

More speculation on Bentley and Audi sharing next-gen V8

Bentley hasn’t let much slip about the V8 that will be available in the 2011 Bentley Continental GT. However, each article that appears about Audi’s use of the engine has one more little bit of information on it. According to what has been written we can piece together that it will be a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with 550 horsepower. Bentley, though, hasn’t given any indication of power output yet, though the 550 number was mooted in reference to next year’s RS7 Sportback. If that were true for a V8 Continental GT, it could be uncomfortably close to the base V12 output.

Regardless, the latest news has the V8 will reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared to the W12, listed as 396 g/km. Bentley said during the release of the second-gen Continental that the V8 would have “a class-leading CO2 emissions-to-power ratio,” but even with that in mind, 40 percent is still a huge jump. Unless they’re talking about simply piling on a huge amount of emissions equipment, there figures to be a serious rise in the Conti’s EPA mileage rating, currently at 13 miles per gallon. It still wouldn’t break 20 mpg, but it would be close closer, and not inconsequential.

2011 Bentley Continental GT, live and in the flesh

Here is your first glimpse at the redesigned 2011 Bentley Continental GT as it makes its world debut at theParis Motor Show. Earlier, we mentioned that it will receive a nearly four percent price hike over the previous model, which is nothing compared to the overall improvements the new car has received.

Like any car, it has good and bad angles (obviously, the exception to this rule is the Maserati GranTurisumowhich looks beautiful from every angle…) – we’ll hold off final judgment until we can see it outside in natural light, not surrounded by a mob of flash bulbs and clamoring journalists. See for yourself in our high-res gallery of live images below.

2011 Bentley Continental GT arrives with new design, optional V8

The 2011 Bentley Continental GT is just the second generation of the blockbuster coupe that rumbled ashore eight years ago. And frankly, this new one looks a lot like that ancient one, but Bentley would have us believe that this is actually a completely new car. Outside, the bodywork gets all kinds of massaging: prominent front fender lines that roll over the headlights and into the more-upright grille, a more pronounced grille treatment that asserts itself into the lower intake, LED running lamps surrounding the main headlight elements, a double-horseshoe rear-end treatment inspired by the Mulsanne and taillights that curl into the rear fenders. For a start…

More substantively, the 2011 Conti gets a boost in horsepower from its 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine, hitting 567 horsepower and 516 pound-feet. The engine swipes a page from the Continental Supersports playbook and gains flex-fuel capability, accepting any combination of gasoline and E85. To keep you in touch with that power, Bentley’s six-speed Quickshift transmission swaps cogs more quickly and does double downshifts. To keep that power in the right place, the rear track is wider, front-to-rear bias of the all-wheel-drive system is now 40/60 front-to-rear, and the coefficient of drag has been reduced to 0.33. 0-60 mph? 4.4 seconds? Top speed? 198 mph.

(Un)Delete Option: Bentley Continental Supersports options list to include rear seat?

We’ve come to expect the ultimate in customization from Bentley. If you’ve got the scratch, the company will be more than happy to custom tailor its products to fit your tastes – right down to the color of your car’s seat belts. It should come as no surprise, then, that the company is now allowing potential ContinentalSupersports Coupe buyers to order their cars with a back seat.

One of the coolest parts of the 612-horsepower coupe is the fact that, for its part, Bentley tried to trim the car’s fat. Weight got ditched wherever possible, including the cabin. Those hefty, infinitely adjustable, heated, cooled and massaging front buckets were swapped for lightweight carbon fiber-backed units, and the two rear seats were scrapped all together. In their place? A sexy piece of carbon-fiber bracing. We like.

But evidently, Bentley buyers would prefer their two-door to have more seats. To help boost Continental Supersports Coupe sales, the company has decided to offer the back thrones as a stand alone option. Checking the box will put the standard front seats in, ditch the rear bracing and re-install the rears. There’s no word on exactly how many pounds that will add to the car’s waist line, but it can’t do the coupe any favors. Boo to this.