In the late '90s, Volkswagen purchased Bugatti with one goal — to turn it into one of the best supercar manufacturers. The first car Bugatti built under Volkswagen's ownership was the legendary Veyron, which debuted in 2005. The Veyron quickly showed everyone that the new Bugatti meant business as it clinched the production car speed record and held it for almost a decade.
In 2016, Bugatti decided it was a great time to build a successor for the Veyron, resulting in the Chiron. The Chiron had huge shoes to fill, but looking at what Bugatti created, it's clear that the automaker built a worthy successor. Let's explore ten interesting facts that show why the Chiron is such a cool car.
10 A Thing Of Beauty
Bugatti has always been a master of design. Just look at the Type 57SC Atlantic of the 1930s or the Type 252 of the '50s — both considered to be among the most beautiful European classic cars ever made.
Bugatti didn't want the Chiron to be any different. The Chiron retained the Veyron's overall profile but looked a lot better thanks to a more aggressive-looking front end, slim four-piece LED headlamps, and a C-shaped curve on the side reminiscent of old Bugattis.
9 A Luxurious Interior
When a manufacturer is building a car to break the production car speed record, they try to get rid of as much weight as possible by making the interior as basic as possible. Not the Chiron — this car's interior is so roomy and luxurious that you can mistake it for a first-class plane cabin.
Every surface is covered by either carbon fiber, aluminum, or fine leather. The seats are reportedly more comfortable than any other supercar, but still strong enough to provide enough support when driving at 250 mph. The icing on the cake is the Chiron's premium sound system that comes with a one-carat diamond membrane on the tweeters for crystal clear sound quality.
8 Advanced Aerodynamics
Any vehicle capable of producing the amount of power the Chiron can needs to be extremely aerodynamically efficient to make it safe and easy to drive. That's why Bugatti reportedly spent 300 hours in the wind tunnel to ensure that the Chiron had excellent aerodynamics.
The Chiron's curvaceous design ensures smooth airflow, while the apron is optimized for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. There are multiple air intakes all over the Chiron's body, including on the aforementioned C-shaped curve on the side profile.
7 Insane Power Figures
The Chiron weighs more than 4,000 lbs, which means it needs extreme power to be able to achieve the speeds Bugatti wanted. As such, Bugatti equipped it with a monstrous 8.0-liter W16 engine — which is basically two V8 engines smashed together.
On top of that, the Chiron has four turbochargers to provide an extra boost to the engine. As a result, the Chiron produces a crazy 1,500 ponies and 1,180 lb-ft of torque, which is almost 500 hp more than the original Veyron.
6 A Ridiculous Hunger For Air
As we've mentioned above, the Chiron has a huge quad-turbocharged W16 engine under the hood. As such, the Chiron needs heaping amounts of air to supply the engine as well as cool various key components.
To ensure that the Chiron gets all the air it needs, it has multiple vents that channel air to the engine and other parts of the car. According to Bugatti, the Chiron needs over 60,000 liters of oxygen per minute, which is astonishing.
5 The Fastest Production Car In The World
The Bugatti Veyron set extremely high standards for the Chiron, as it held the production car speed record for much of the last two decades. However, the Chiron met and exceeded them.
In 2019, Bugatti achieved an incredible top speed of 304.773 mph in a pre-production Chiron Super Sport 300+. Although this top speed wasn't officially recognized, the Chiron will likely be the first production car to go over 300 mph, as it has already been proven to be capable.
4 There Are Multiple Variants
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If you want a Chiron, there are multiple versions to choose from. These include the 2018 Chiron Sport, 2019 Chiron Super Sport 300+, and 2020 Chiron Pur Sport.
Bugatti also built several special models based on the Chiron. These include the Divo, which is a track-focused supercar, and the Centodieci, which pays homage to the EB110.
3 A Limited Production Run
Since the Chiron is built by hand, it reportedly takes Bugatti at least two months to build one. As such, these cars are extremely rare.
The Chiron's production is limited to just 500 examples, making it one of the rarest European sports cars. All of these examples are already sold out, but some are yet to be delivered to their buyers.
2 You Have To Be A Multi-Millionaire To Own One
The Chiron is a gorgeous limited-production supercar with enough power to hit a 300-mph top speed. Of course, it's not cheap! The Chiron originally cost around $2.5 million, which went up depending on the type of Chiron and buyer options.
Even if you had that kind of money sitting around, you still wouldn't buy one, since they're all sold out. You'd have to buy it at auction or from a collector, which means you have to pay a premium.
1 The Lego Chiron
In 2018, the Chiron was fully recreated in Lego as a 1:8 scale model. The model was constructed almost entirely with more than a million Lego pieces. The only non-Lego parts included the Bugatti badge, the steel frame, wheels, roll cage, seat belts, and steel drive chain.
Interestingly, the Lego Chiron was a fully-functioning vehicle. However, since its Lego engine could only produce 5.4 hp and 68 lb-ft of torque, it could only achieve a top speed of 12 mph.