If you have a few million dollars or
euros lying around the house and you have been contemplating on buying a
Bugatti Veyron, we are sorry to tell you that it’s too late. The 450th…
the very last Veyron has been sold to a man in the in the Middle East. It was a
Grand Sport Vitesse.
Going back in time, it was on December
5, 2013 that Bugatti had sold its 400th Veyron. The production run of the
Veyron and its variants was limited to just 450 models. Between December 2013
and February 2015, the company managed to sell the remaining 50 Veyrons. The
400th Veyron was a Grand Sport Vitesse and was again bought by a customer in
the Middle East.
When Volkswagen announced they will
build a Bugatti which will have a thousand horse powers and will go to
400+kmph, how the world laughed and said it can never be done. Then in 2005
when Volkswagen introduced the Veyron and said it can’t be done but we did it
anyway, the world was left awestruck. With the help of two V8 engines mounted
in the middle, the 8.0 litre, 16 cylinder engine with 10 radiators, 64 valves
and 4 turbo chargers mated to a VW 7-speed DSG gearbox (developed by Ricardo)
produced by the end of its production 1200bhp. The acceleration from 0-100kmph
of the Veyron was recorded to be 2.5 seconds and a world record holding top
speed of 431kmph for any production car to date. The final Veyron ‘chassis
number 450’ named “La Finale” was ordered in the form of the Grand Sport
Vitesse by a Middle Eastern rich bloke. The “La Finale” will be displayed at
the Geneva Motor Show from March 5 to 15, 2015 alongside the first Veyron ‘Chassis
no. 1’ that left the production line ten years ago.
“In the Veyron, Bugatti has created an
automobile icon and established itself as the world’s most exclusive supercar
brand,” says Wolfgang Dürheimer, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “An
unprecedented chapter in automobile history has reached its climax,” he added.
The average price of the Veyron sold
recently amounted to 2.3 million euros reports Bugatti and the last one will
probably be the first car in history to appreciate in terms of value when it
leaves the production line and is delivered. If only VW made a profit out if
this entire exercise…
Since its launch in 2005, Bugatti till
2013 sold all coupés that were limited to 300 – the Veyron 16.4 with 1000 bhp and
the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport with 1200 bhp. By February 2015, the company had
sold the remaining 150 roadsters: the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport with 1,001 PS and
the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse with 1200 bhp.
The 400th Veyron was the third and final
Vitesse “Jean-Pierre Wimille” in the exclusive six-part edition “Les Légendes
de Bugatti”. The series was launched in August of 2013 at California’s Pebble
Beach Concours d’Elegance with the Vitesse “Jean-Pierre Wimille”. This was
followed by the Legend car, “Jean Bugatti”, which was presented at the
International Motor Show in Frankfurt. In November of the same year the third
Legend Edition, dedicated to Meo Costantini, was revealed to the public at the
Dubai International Motor Show 2013. As with all Bugatti Legend cars, the
production run was limited to only three vehicles. The Legend Edition “Jean- Pierre
Wimille” was priced at Euros 2.13 million, excluding taxes and transport.
The Legend cars were based on the
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse. The 1,200 PS super car is powered by
an eight litre, 16 cylinder engine and accelerated from 0 - 100 km/h in just
2.6 seconds and from 0 - 200 km/h in only 7.1 seconds. The Vitesse needed just
5.8 seconds to go from 200 km/h to a complete stop. The super sports car
achieved an impressive 1,500 Nm torque between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm.
Bugatti was founded more than 100 years
ago in the Alsatian town of Molsheim and now belongs to the Volkswagen Group,
which took over the rights to the brand in 1998.
Bugatti, staying true to its motto “Art,
Form, Technique”, combines the artistic roots of its Italian founder with
French savoir-vivre, and German engineering ingenuity. The development of the
Bugatti Veyron represented one of the greatest technical challenges in automotive
history. The success story began in 2005 with the Veyron 16.4 and in 2008 the open-top
Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport pulled up alongside the 1,001 PS super sports car.
Then, in 2010 the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport with 1,200 PS hit the road, and in
2012 its roadster variant the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse followed.
With 30 dealerships and service partners
in 18 countries Bugatti is a global player. The brand is represented in all
corners of the world including Europe, North and South America and the Middle
East as well as Japan, Singapore and China.