2008 Bugatti Veyron on 2040-cars

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What's up with this Bugatti Veyron spied at the N?rburgring?

It's been sixteen years since Volkswagen acquired the Bugatti name and started showing off successive concept cars to preview the Veyron that followed. It's been eleven years since the first Veyron prototype started testing, and nine years since it entered production. But soon - probably sometime next year - Bugatti will have sold the last of the Veyrons it will ever build. And considering that the Veyron is the only model it offers, it will need something else to take its place, lest the marque effectively go dormant once again.
Having ruled out the prospect of doing a less expensive sports car years ago and, more recently, the production prospects for the Galibier super-sedan, Bugatti is committed to further the concept of a super-sports car that will, in all likelihood, be lighter than the current Veyron - which may seem like a no-brainer, considering the car weighs over 4,000 pounds - but with an engine that is, by every metric but output, twice the size of the one you'd find in, say, a modern McLaren, trimming weight will be no mean feat.
That does appear, however, to be what Bugatti is seen testing at the Nürburgring in this video clip below. Going by the handle fastsportscardriver, the videographer/uploader doesn't seem to know what he has captured here, but the Grand Sport prototype he's spotted seems to be wearing some sort of metal frame over the exposed engine, suggesting something's at work here. Just what that is, we don't know. But when you're dealing with an engine that already produces upwards of a thousand horsepower, whatever they're working on, it's got to be good.

Trial of man whose Bugatti Veyron went in the drink mysteriously delayed [w/video]

The mysterious case of the drowned Bugatti Veyron has taken another turn toward the strange.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's bring you up to speed: Andy House, who owns an exotic car repair shop called Performance Auto Sales, crashed his Veyron into a lagoon in Texas after allegedly being distracted by a low-flying pelican... or something. Naturally, House turned a claim into his insurance company for the totaled supercar to the tune of $2.2 million, which is likely more than the car is actually worth.
Shortly thereafter, video surfaced of the crash, with nary a distraction in sight. The next makes-you-go-hmm moment occured when reports surfaced of a new Veyron, along with a pair of Lamborghini coupes and a Porsche 911 GT3, landing in House's garage. The estimated cost of these supercars, according to Jalopnik, is $2.2 million. All of this made Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company's insurance fraud lawsuit in 2011 - two years after the incident - come as little surprise.

Bugatti will send 'Flying Doctors' as part of Chiron recall

Normally, the owner of an automobile gets a letter in the mail when they need to be informed of a recall. But 'normal' isn't nearly good enough for Bugatti owners. When the Chiron is recalled, the owner gets a house call from a so-called 'Flying Doctor' who will, in this case, inspect all 47 Chirons sold worldwide for what could be improperly welded seat brackets. If necessary, according to Bloomberg, the car will be loaded onto a truck and transported to the nearest Bugatti service center where the entire seat assembly will be replaced free of charge. Now that's what we call service. If we're honest, anyone spending upwards of $3 million for a Chiron should quite rightly expect a different level of service from someone spending $30,000 on a Volkswagen. But what makes the entire situation even more offbeat is that Bugatti estimates only one percent of all Chiron models will need to be fixed. If you do the math, one percent of 47 total vehicles means less than half of one car is expected to be improperly welded. At least Bugatti is being thorough, right? Related Video: