2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Base Coupe 2-door 8.0l on 2040-cars

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VW Group to split brands under four holding companies

The Volkswagen Group is planning a tremendous shift in its internal structure that will decentralize operations by splitting its 12 brands into four different holding companies. Here's the breakdown. Things will be split logically, considering the inter-sharing of parts, platforms, and engines. The Volkswagen brand, Seat, and Skoda make up a passenger vehicle division led by former BMW man Herbert Diess. Audi, which is tightly intertwined with Lamborghini and motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, will be managed by current Audi exec Rupert Stadler. Porsche and Bentley, which are already quite close, will be joined by Bugatti and run by Matthias Mueller. Finally, a commercial vehicles division will include Volkswagen Commercial, Scania, and Man. Former Daimler exec Andreas Renschler will take care of the big vehicles. The massive move, according to Automotive News Europe, is part of an internal VAG effort to move away from the structure established by ousted Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who favored a compact, but highly centralized, management structure to oversee the independent actions of the company's brands. Criticism of Piech's arrangement stemmed from the company's slow responses to changes in the market, ANE reports. The new structure should make for a more efficient, streamlined company that's better able to make crucial decisions. What are your thoughts? Should VAG decentralize, or did Piech have the right idea? Have your say in Comments.

Race in a road rally | The List #0035

On this episode of The List, hosts Jessi Combs and Patrick McIntyre compete in The Great Race, a 2,000-mile road rally in which precision, not speed, is the key to victory. The race is a grueling test of endurance, restraint, and the ability to execute rigid instructions under extreme duress. The prize for first place? $50,000. Oh, and did we mention the competitor lineup consists exclusively of vintage cars? For each leg of the race, the point is not necessarily to come in first, but to arrive at your destination at a very specific, pre-determined time, down to the second. If you arrive at your destination when you're meant to, congratulations, you've aced that leg of the race! To do this, you need to be fantastic at following rules, instructions, and driving at a steady speed. "I am not good at following rules, I am not good at following instructions, I am not good at driving slow," says Jessi, pondering the requirements for success in the rally. However, regardless of confidence, our hosts set off from San Rafael, CA, in a 1927 Bugatti Type 35B on the first leg of the nine-day journey. A road trip of this length is difficult in the best of conditions, but being cramped together with another person in a two-seat, topless, slow-moving, 89-year-old car takes a special breed of human. Our hosts are up to the challenge, but the journey isn't without hardships. Will they be able to finish the race? Join us as we drive from California to Illinois to find out on this episode of The List! Click here to find more episodes of The List Click here to learn more about our hosts, Jessi and Patrick

It’s complicated: Watch a Bugatti Veyron get a $21,000 oil change

Here's a fascinating peek under the hood, or rather the rear carbon-fiber engine cover panel and undercarriage, that shows the complexity of getting a simple oil change for a Bugatti Veyron, courtesy of the folks at Royalty Exotic Cars. Servicing this Veyron Mansory Vivere owned by Houston Crosta costs an estimated $21,000. Jiffy Lube, eat your heart out. How complicated can it be, you ask? Well, the video is 20 minutes long — and that's with the benefit of plenty of editing to cut out the boring waiting-around and taking-things-apart parts. Crosta estimates the Veyron is held together by nearly 10,000 bolts, and a heck of a lot of them have to be removed. Changing the oil on one of the supercars starts with needing specialty GoJack car dollies to get underneath and hoist the lowered body high enough to get it on the shop's lift. Then, you have to remove the wheels on both sides, rear fender and carbon-fiber panel, carbon fiber wheel-well panels, the fuel filler ... and on and on and on. Also, where most modern cars have one or two drain plugs, the Veyron has 16. The mechanics managed to drain 16.5 quarts of oil from the quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16 engine. Rather do it yourself? Well, the mechanics estimate the difficulty of the oil change ranked a 20 on a 1-to-10 scale. At least for the first hour or so, until they managed to pry off the rear panel. Then it went to a 6, they say. "After everything's taken apart, some of this stuff is just plain and simple super easy," Crosta says. "But getting everything out to get to this point, that's a couple-day process." Interestingly, Royalty will let you rent out a Veyron Mansory Vivere for almost the same price as the oil change — $20,000 — for 24 hours of fun. Related Video: Image Credit: Royalty Exotic Cars Bugatti Coupe Luxury Racing Vehicles Supercars supercar oil change