Bugatti boss: Chiron is "the absolute pinnacle" of super sports cars

Bugatti’s Chiron, the star of the 2016 Geneva motor show, is a car like no other: a price tag that would approach $4 million Down Under; current top speed in excess of 400km/h; theoretical V-max closer to 500; and a power output that dwarfs existing production cars.

Indeed, Chiron is so over the top, it begs the question why? motoring.com.au caught up with former Porsche exec and now Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Durheimer to better understand the world’s fastest car and the company that builds it.

motoring.com.au: The styling of the Chiron is more dramatic than that of the Veyron. Was this a response to customer feedback you had received?

Durheimer: “The styling is meant to clearly identify it as a Bugatti, and especially from the front and side you can clearly see it belongs to the family. You don’t need to look twice to brand it. However, with the new car it was our objective to push the boundaries far and to reach a new horizon in terms of aerodynamic performance.

“So we have ended up with a car that is still beautiful, yet has a little bit more beast than last time, especially when you come to the rear of the car where you have a cut-off, stealth-fighter inspired design.

“When the spoiler is not deployed, there are no visible interruptions, so it’s still a piece of art.

“The reaction from customers on our stand yesterday was very positive, which is why they have placed orders.”

Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LeFerrari and McLaren P1 have all adopted hybrid or KERS-boosted powertrains, yet they remain fairly light. Why haven’t you gone down this path in the quest for efficiency?

Durheimer: “Our objective was to be the absolute pinnacle in the super sports car world. The main criteria for who is at the top of this pyramid are performance, exclusivity and price. With only 500 units and a price of €2.4m, we are clearly on top in the last two criteria. As for performance, you could discuss whether this constitutes top speed or a fast lap on a track.

“Our position at Bugatti is that we want to have the fastest production car on earth and we want to remain the holders of the world speed record. We also want to have the most breath-taking acceleration. These are our criteria.

“As we already have the world speed record at 431km/h, and we want to push it again, we analysed the technical concept to determine what is necessary to achieve this. Our analysis came to the conclusion that it is better to invest in a new 16-cylinder 8.0-litre engine than downsizing and adding in electrical power.

“If we would have gone down this route, it would have meant adding 150-180kg to the car for the electric motors and battery pack and other components for the hybrid drivetrain. For our purpose, it was better to stick with pure combustion power and maintain our predecessor’s weight of 1995kg [the Chiron is in fact around 150kg heavier than the Veyron].”

You mentioned the two different performance criteria – lap times versus maximum speed. Do any of your customers place much emphasis on the former?

Durheimer: “There are customers who have an interest in good lap times, and many of them have taken their cars to racetracks and discovered that this is not our best discipline. For this reason, with the Chiron we’ve taken steps to significantly improve the car’s agility and driving dynamics – not only longitudinal, but also lateral.

“The steering, aerodynamic set-up and chassis are all quite different to the Veyron, and we’re sure our customers will be able to perceive this. We invested a lot in brake technology to have strong stopping performance even under very heavy use.”

Was testing done at the Nurburgring Nordschleife?

Durheimer: “So far we have done a total of 500,000km of testing and have used 30 prototypes and we spent about 300 hours in the wind tunnel. As for the Nordschleife, we plan to set a lap time, but it’s one of the most demanding tracks.

“To do a lap of the circuit in a super sports car is even more challenging, as with 1500hp and 1600Nm and acceleration from 0-300km/h in 13.6sec, you cannot imagine what is happening at the Nordschleife. Nothing is the same anymore, because you are flying so fast into the next corner that everything needs to change – your line, your braking mark and the point at which you accelerate. You need to have a lot of time as an experienced super sports car driver to get used to the car under these conditions, because nothing else is this quick from one corner to the next.

“It will be really interesting to see what sort of lap time we can post. We’ll probably get close to 400km/h on the straight back to the Grand Prix circuit.”

The Chiron is still a very heavy car in an era where most carmakers are trying to reduce mass. Your thoughts?

Durheimer: “Considering the increase in brake dimensions, power output and aerodynamic tweaks, the new car is still very light.

“Basically, the entire car is magnesium, aluminium, titanium and carbon-fibre. The monocoque is still the stiffest you can get in a super sports car at present. It has a lot of rigidity built in with composite structures.

“The carbon-fibre components used for the exterior are also more rigid than before with a very light increase in thickness. So a lot of material science and simulations have gone into this car, which is why we’ve been able to keep the weight under two tonnes.”

In terms of driving characteristics, what would you describe as the biggest differences between the Veyron and Chiron?

Durheimer: “The biggest difference is the power and torque you experience – nothing before has accelerated your body in this manner. It’s literally like being fired out of a slingshot when you floor the throttle.

“And when the first corner appears, you will realise the car turns much easier and even more precisely than the Veyron. The driving dynamics and handling on twisty roads has improved significantly. At the same time, the comfort level in the cabin has also improved. It’s not that noisy anymore... It’s at a level that’s really mature.

“When you are in the driver’s seat, you will also experience better ergonomics. The steering is now exactly in the centre of your body [it wasn’t in the Veyron], and legroom around the pedals has also improved.

“For our [existing] Veyron customers, it’s hard to understand that this car is better in every dimension, but they will learn this with a 30-minute test drive.”

With the Veyron, it took 11 years and numerous special editions to shift the 450 cars built. Do you anticipate a similar lifecycle for the Chiron?

Durheimer: “The lifecycle for the Chiron is expected to be a little bit shorter, as we plan to build and sell 500 Chirons in eight years. Our production at the start will be 50 cars per year – or more or less one per week.”

How far down the track is an open-topped version of the Chiron?

Durheimer: “It’s not on our agenda at the moment. This car is designed purely as a closed monocoque as in order to reach this incredible stiffness we went down the Le Mans LMP1 route, which has also abandoned open cars in the quest for added rigidity and security.

“Everything is possible at Bugatti. If we sincerely believe that we should do it [an open Chiron], we will find a way, but so far no customers are asking for one.”

Will you need a second or even third model line to secure the long-term viability of Bugatti?

Durheimer: “The Chiron is enough. It will remain a standalone project and, as I mentioned before, we want to keep it ultra-exclusive.

“We want to keep it in the pinnacle position, which means that anything we would do around it would take away some of the exclusivity. Of course, we need to think how we develop the brand in the future but, for the time being, we don’t have any plans to add in a second model line.”

See full Bugatti Chiron gallery here

Did the Volkswagen Group diesel scandal put Bugatti under added pressure?

Durheimer: “If you are in my position at Bugatti, you are always under extreme pressure because for us there is no room for failure. If you claim to be the best, you need to crank out the best car.

“This is a lot of pressure on our team, and it didn’t get any easier with the diesel and CO2 crisis. But we have done our homework, and the Chiron will make money over its lifecycle and make a positive contribution to the group’s bottom-line result. For this reason, the pressure I’m getting from Volkswagen is still digestible.”

Are you convinced the Chiron is the right car to be launching in the current and impending global economic climate?

Durheimer: “Definitely, yes... Because we are launching an ultra-super sports car with an extraordinary price and a performance that is unseen in the market. Naturally, it’s a limited and exclusive customer base we are addressing with this car, and for these people it doesn’t really matter whether the stock market is going up or down, or business is going good or not so good.”

Will most of your customers be existing Bugatti owners?

Durheimer: “We need to see what happens now that the car is out and everybody has access to it. In our pre-launch campaign so far, we mainly gave sneak previews to our existing customers because we know they belong to the family and they should have the first opportunity to place a pre-order.

“Of the pre-orders so far, which account for about one third of Chiron production, the majority are from customers who are already in the Bugatti family.”

Is the geographic mix of your customers changing in line with global economic trends? For example, are you now getting more orders from Asia?

Durheimer: “Our No1 city at the moment is London, but our customers there aren’t just British citizens. The US, Middle East and continental Europe are also very strong. Those are our main markets.”

Bugatti has a rich motorsport heritage, but you’ve not leveraged this with the Veyron. Will that change going forward – either through direct or indirect involvement in motorsport?

Durheimer: “I think the Chiron is our Formula One project. This [building an ultra-fast road car] is also motorsport in a sense and, as we are a fairly small company, we don’t see any necessity at present to enter serious racing.

“We have our world speed records and outstanding events, and this is what we will continue to focus on in the future.”

See full Bugatti Chiron gallery here