Bugatti has been resistant to the idea of an SUV, but a new report says that an SUV is on its way.
Last January, Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann said during the hyper-luxury carmaker’s year-end address that “there will be no SUV from Bugatti.” That was supposed to squash swirling rumors that the carmaker known for making ludicrously fast and ludicrously expensive hypercars was making a more “family-friendly” vehicle.
But those rumors persisted, and today we’ve got reports coming in from Car Magazine that Bugatti might have reversed course on the whole SUV thing.
First, they’re doing a little verbal gymnastics to get around the proclamation that Bugatti will never make an SUV. They’re calling it a "crossover-influenced sports car", which already has the word “sport” in it and the word “crossover” is often used interchangeably with “SUV.” This sounds like a “rose by any other name” situation, but whatever helps Winklemann sleep at night.
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It’s also a little bit hypocritical since Winkelmann started the Lamborghini Urus project during his time as head of Lamborghini, and that has since become hugely successful. Urus sales have boosted Lamborghini profits into the stratosphere, and the Italian carmaker expects over half of their vehicles sold to be Uruses this year.
The report states that whatever form the Bugatti SUV takes, it will likely be based on the Urus but have higher seating, more Chiron-like bodywork, and have a hybridized powertrain to get the 4.0-L twin-turbo V8 over 1,000 hp. It’ll also cost less than the $3 million Chiron, which isn’t exactly hard to do.
Bugatti is currently waiting on Volkswagen execs’ approval, then they’d start finalizing designs. Expect around 800 units per year with an arrival time of between 2022 and 2023.