Frankfurt debut for Bugatti's Rolls-Royce rival
Ultra-premium brand aims to take on the Phantom with a new four-door that will be unveiled to coincide with the marque's 100th anniversaryBugatti is set to whip the covers off a Rolls-Royce Phantom rival at September's Frankfurt motor show, and our friends at Carparazzi have provided an indication of how the newcomer will look.
Going on these images, it appears the long, low-slung four-door has much in common with the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.
Although yet to be confirmed, it's believed the new Bugatti will be named 'Bordeaux', and a teaser image released by the manufacturer suggests it will feature distinctive horseshoe-shaped LED tail-lights and a split rear window that harks back to the Type 57 SC Atlantic.
The split-window theme also appeared on the four-door EB112 Concept penned in 1993 by Italdesign/Giugiaro, but in the case of the Bordeaux -- if that is indeed what it will be named -- the central window divider also houses a vertical brake light.
The car will also feature no less than eight tailpipes to emit gasses from what's likely to be a derivative of the Veyron's quad-turbo W16 engine.
Just to recap, this engine puts out a monumental 736kW and 1250Nm, which pretty much guarantees the Bugatti sedan will be faster and badder (at least in a straight line) than any rival offering.
Well-placed sources suggest the sedan will reap some economies of scale by sharing much of its platform with the upcoming 'Grand Bentley' as both brands are part of the Volkswagen Group.
Meanwhile, UK's Autocar magazine reports that Bugatti boss Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen has said the company will replace the ballistic Veyron around 2012 with another ultra high-po model.
"We will be staying on top of everybody else and we will not be producing a smaller, or cheaper car and we will not be moving volumes up. Bugatti customers are very extreme people," Paefgen was quoted as saying in Autocar.
According to the British publication, Bugatti is also working on an amped-up 'GT' version of the current Veyron, and it quotes Bugatti engineering boss Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber as saying more power and torque can be eked out of the quad-turbocharged W16 engine.
"We can go to 1500Nm of torque and we currently have 1250Nm -- and with a turbocharged engine, engineers are always working on getting higher power," said Schreiber.
Some sources are speculating the Veyron GT could trash out 895kW and top 435km/h. Incroyable!
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