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Bugatti fully restores the first Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport prototype

Bugatti proved a car doesn't need wire wheels and a carburetor to be considered a classic by restoring an important part of its recent heritage. It purchased and renovated the first Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport prototype from 2008. Finished in white silver metallic with a cognac leather interior, the topless hypercar was presented to enthusiasts at the 2008 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It joined the Bugatti fleet after its champagne-soaked debut and became an unregistered demo car that logged miles in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. It then presumably ended up in private hands, and it largely fell off the radar until Bugatti spotted it in 2020. "Following the official confirmation of the car's status as an important historic model and the prototype that helped launch the Veyron Grand Sport in 2008, the car rapidly attracted attention from a number of captivated collectors, and it was acquired almost immediately," explained Luigi Galli, the man in charge of La Maison Pur Sang, Bugatti's in-house restoration and certification program. He added the firm keeps details about past models in its archives. Back in Molsheim, the picturesque French town where Bugatti's headquarters are located, the Veyron underwent a four-month restoration that brought it back to its 2008 configuration. The body panels were removed and repainted, the cabin was completely refurbished with leather upholstery and aluminum trim pieces, and a new center console was installed. There's no word on whether the quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine required an overhaul as well. Bugatti's in-house restoration expertise extends far beyond relatively new cars like a Veyron. It has access to a wide range of documents, blueprints, period photos, and experts that can help it piece together a car's history, regardless of whether it's a 13-year old prototype or a dismantled 100-year old race car stashed in a barn since the 1980s. Related video:

Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.

Bugatti SUV: Call it what you will, it's waiting for a green light

Three years ago, then-Bugatti CEO Wolfgan Durheimer said the hyper-indulgent brand was looking at four different bodystyles for a second model line. He wouldn't identify the styles, but they were thought to be a sedan like the 2009 Galibier concept or 2+2 GT, a less extraterrestrial supercar, an electric car, and an SUV. Some rumors of late suggest plans for a "Royale electric limousine" are in the pipeline. Before that, though, Car magazine says "a crossover-influenced sports car" is only waiting for sign-off from Volkswagen Group execs. As far as we can tell, the phrase "crossover-influenced sports car" is a way to escape calling this reported product an SUV. Remember, brand CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in January that "There will be no SUV from Bugatti" because it didn't fit the Molsheim automaker's heritage and disposition. There could be shades of Italianate wrangling between a boutique brand and a parent company going on here. When ex-Ferrari CEO Luca de Montezemolo said the brand would never build an SUV, he was soon overruled by parent-company CEO Sergio Marchionne. That's how we'll get the Purosangue next year, which the Modena sports car maker calls an FAV, for Ferrari Activity Vehicle. So Luca, with help from the marketing team, was technically correct. Point being that when discussing the shape of the next model, Winkelmann explained needing to balance investment with return, and said, "it's not me to decide." If said proposal gets the green light, it "won't be a traditional SUV." The picture painted is of something like a two-door Lamborghini Urus with a higher seating position, much faster bodywork, and much less weight. Underneath would be a Bugatti platform not shared with the rest of the group. Instead of the 641 horsepower kicked out by the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 in the Urus, the report says Bugatti would inject some sort of electrical assistance to achieve 1,000 hp. Winkelmann is known to be against a hybrid powertrain for the eventual Chiron successor because of the weight and space penalties, but a crossover-like sports car would alleviate those concerns. The form factor would also achieve the more livable brief Bugatti's been talking about for ages, and address global emissions issues such as EV-only zones being proposed in cities around the world. The model would sit "below the Chiron but on top of every other model," and cost less than the $3 million Chiron. Production is said to be capped at 800 units per year.