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The 500th and final Bugatti Chiron is a tribute to the model's beginnings

It's the end of the road for the Bugatti Chiron. Limited to 500 units globally, the W16-powered coupe entered production in 2016, set a top-speed record, and spawned several models. The final Chiron was built in May 2024, but the French brand will soon unveil what comes next. Bugatti named the final Chiron "L'Ultime," which translates to "the last one" in French. It's a Super Sport model whose livery is inspired by the first Chiron shown to the public when the model was announced at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. It's finished in Atlantic Blue and French Racing Blue, like the show car, but the colors blend into each other; they were separated by hand-polished aluminum trim on the show car displayed in Switzerland. The color split extends to the wheels, and the grille wears a blue Bugatti emblem created specifically for the model. The name of places that helped shape the Chiron's career appear on both sides of the last example built. Paul Ricard is the track in the south of France where Bugatti tested pre-production prototypes, for example. Geneva is where the Chiron was presented to the public, and Ehra-Lessien is the German test track where the Chiron became the first car to cross the 300-mph barrier. It reached precisely 304.773 mph. 2024 Bugatti Chiron l'Ultime View 22 Photos More subtle design details further identify L'Ultime as the final Chiron built. The center caps feature "500/500" logos while "#500" appears ahead of both wheel arches — that's number 500, not hashtag 500. Bugatti notes that this livery was created at the request of a customer. Inside, there's Deep Blue leather upholstery and carbon fiber trim. The "#500" logo appears on the center console, while the seats and the steering wheel get blue, white, and red stitching as a tribute to the French flag. Bugatti's historic home is in Molsheim, in northern France. There's no word on where the final Chiron is off to. It might end up tucked away in a private museum, or you might spot it at the next cars and coffee gathering. As for what's next, we won't have to wait long to find out. The company, which is controlled by Croatia-based Rimac, confirmed that the Chiron's successor will ditch the W16 engine that also powered the Veyron and instead use a new V16 engine designed in-house. The 16-cylinder will work jointly with some kind of hybrid drivetrain, though full technical details haven't been released yet.

Audi CEO says brand's EVs are almost as profitable as its other cars

After, oh, a hundred years or so of building vehicles primarily powered by internal combustion engines, automakers around the world have been and still are pumping billions of dollars into the development of electric vehicle technology. Everything from platforms and batteries to motors and the software to control it all requires untold hours of development, and that takes time and money. Fortunately, it's not going to take long for that massive investment to start paying off, at least according to Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who told Reuters in an interview that "The point where we earn as much money with electric cars as with combustion engine cars is now, or ... next year, 2023. They are very even now, the prices." As a brand, Audi contributed more than a quarter of overall profit for the massive Volkswagen Group, which has such powerhouse brands as Volkswagen and Porsche among others. Under the Audi umbrella are Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, and it seems those high-end branches aren't going anywhere, at least for now. "These brands ... are very valuable very profitable brands, where we can even expand the synergy level in the future," Duesmann said in the interview. "There are no plans whatsoever to get rid of them." Despite the overall profitability of the brand, the ongoing global chip crisis is causing headaches. "We had a very strong first half in 2021. We do expect a much weaker second half," said Duesmann, who added, "We really have trouble." In fact, so serious is the trouble that the brand is forced into "a day-to-day troubleshooting process" to limit the chip-shortage damage. The good news for the automaker is that Audi has been able to boost its profit margin from 8% prior to the pandemic in 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2021. The bad news is that various chip shortages aren't expected to get a whole lot better over the rest of the year. Related video:

Barrett-Jackson 2014: Simon Cowell's 2008 Bugatti Veyron is a $1.375M certified pre-owned car [w/video]

For a man who's best known for being mean to aspiring singers, Simon Cowell sure seems to garner lots of attention. While Cowell himself didn't make an appearance at Barrett-Jackson, his black on black Bugatti Veyron did, and bidding on it ended with a final sale price of $1.375 million.
Somewhat interestingly, this is the first certified pre-owned Bugatti sold through a new factory program. It includes a full one-year warranty, which must give its new owner some comfort. According to the auction company, Cowell has put 1,300 miles on this particular Veyron. See for yourself in our high-res image gallery above, and scroll down below for a video showing the live auction and the official auction description.