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Rimac CEO on Porsche-Bugatti deal: ‘I am not somebody to play it safe’

'We are already developing stuff that will be soon in high-volume Porsches'

Bugatti said to bring an $18M one-off to Geneva

Bugatti already has the limited-edition Chiron Sport "110 Ans Bugatti" on the Geneva Motor Show playlist. The matte-blue coupe celebrates 110 years since Ettore Bugatti's first car, the Type 10. According to several rumors, Bugatti could have something else just as noteworthy alongside. The Supercar Blog reported that the French carmaker will show a one-off model reported to cost 16 million euros, about $18 million at current exchange rates. The buyer has already been chosen, that being one Dr. Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and ex-chairman of the Volkswagen Group. The rumor couldn't be ignored once Kris Singh — managing director of a U.S. investment firm, Lamborghini Veneno owner, and supercar collector — made a post on Instagram the same day as the Supercar Blog post. Next to an image of the 110 Ans Bugatti, Singh wrote, "it will be fun to see this alongside the Divo and the top secret 16 million euro Bugatti one-off that was made exclusively for Dr. Piech." As chairman of the VW Group, Piech fathered the Veyron when he demanded his engineers turn the 2001 Geneva Motor Show concept into a proper production car. After a roaring 14 years, Piech's tenure ended with a whimper when he was ousted in 2015 in an internal battle with Group CEO Martin Winterkorn. A few months after Piech hit the bricks, dieselgate broke. Last year, U.S. prosecutors charged Winterkorn — who remains in Germany — with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with the emissions scandal. Piech, on the other hand, had different pursuers: Volkswagen said in 2017 it might go after the family scion for reportedly leaking about potential cheating on the emissions tests six months before the situation went public. The same year, Piech sold his 14.7 percent stake in the the VW Group's holding company, netting him a billion. So what could the now-81-year-old ex-Caesar be doing with Bugatti now? The easy money is on some kind of Chiron-based coupe, but for a reputed $18 million, this would need to be a massive departure from the Chiron. Assuming the price is accurate, this would outdo the most expensive new car yet, the Rolls-Royce Sweptail of 2017, said to cost $13 million. The English custom kept " 30 to 40 designers, engineers, craftspeople, and testers" busy for four years.

Man rolls $400,000 vintage Bugatti in race, goes for a pint

One of the risks associated with vintage car racing is damaging a rare, priceless piece of automotive history, but we're pretty sure that one recent participant is just happy to be alive. Edmund Burgess, of Lavenham, UK, was participating in the Prescott Speed Hill Climb in Gloucestershire, UK when, according to Car Buzz, the brakes reportedly failed on his 1924 Bugatti Type 13 causing it to go off course and roll over.
With an open cockpit on the car, all that was protecting Burgess were a helmet, goggles and a jacket, and while the video shows that his head came very close to making contact with the wall and ground, and that he was briefly trapped under the car, he fortunately didn't suffer any serious injuries.
Too bad the same can't be said for the Bugatti. The vintage racer, worth an estimated 250,000 British pounds (about $390,000 US), was heavily damaged, but the report says that Burgess is determined to get it fixed and racing again in just eight weeks. So what does a racer do after crashing his rare sports car and live to race another day? Probably the same thing we'd all do. Grab a beer. The video of the crash is posted below.