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Volkner Performance S is an RV with a Bugatti in its belly

Going on a long road trip in a Bugatti Chiron is easier said than done: There are a lot of things to love about the hypercar, but cargo space isn't one of them. German recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturer Volkner has a solution in the form of a big, bus-like motorhome with enough space between its front and rear wheels to house a Chiron. Volkner's Performance S looks just like a regular motorhome when you're stuck behind it in traffic. It's as big and as boxy as a tour bus, and its front end features antenna-like mirrors. It's what's inside the box that's impressive. The panel between the front and rear passenger-side wheels flips up to reveal a car-sized metal tray that slides out from the underbody. Controlled by a wired remote, it's big enough to hold a 178.9-inch long and 80.2-inch wide Chiron. Volkner Performance S View 3 Photos It's unclear whether Volkner made structural reinforcements to its motorhome in order to accommodate; the space the Chiron sleeps in is normally reserved for lighter items such as luggage. And, while most promotional material shows a Bugatti emerging from the RV's belly, anything that's smaller than a Chiron fits; one of the firm's images depicts a Porsche 911 parked in the storage space. Don't try to park a Toyota 4Runner under there, however. Inside, the Performance S looks like a five-star hotel, and it's bigger than many college dorm rooms. It boasts leather-upholstered seats, cabinets made with real wood, and LED lighting, among other features. Posh vacationers can work directly with the brand to configure an interior that suits their needs. If you splurged on a Chiron, you may as well order your RV with a Burmester surround-sound system that costs nearly ˆ300,000 (about $355,000). Volkner charges around ˆ2 for the Performance S, which represents approximately $2.3 million at the current conversion rate. Bugatti priced the Chiron at around $2.9 million, so the full package is worth over $5 million. Related video:

Fast doesn't begin to describe it | 2017 Bugatti Chiron First Drive

Long after the heat of the moment, I pull off the highway in rural Portugal and glance at the Bugatti Chiron's center console. As the engine cools and the carbon silicon carbide brake rotors start to dissipate heat, the onboard computer's telemetry reveals some staggering figures: A peak speed of 377 km/h (do the math, and that's 234 mph), with the quad-turbocharged W16 squeezing a max of 1,466 horsepower at 6,691 rpm. Did I just drive a car or fly a plane? The mind-boggling brain shuffle of Bugatti's latest land rocket cannot be understated, even when placed in context against the now-defunct Veyron. In ultimate Super Sport trim, the Veyron produced a stunning 1,200 (metric) horsepower. The Chiron's leap to 1,500 ponies required considerable development, testing, and re-engineering. That exhaustive process saw significant challenges, even late in the game. Consider the high-speed testing incident in South Africa: despite extensive test-bench work, real-world driving revealed that the immense exhaust heat was melting the rear bumper and nearly igniting the car. The solution, it turns out, was to add a duct so airflow from the underbody could channel through and diffuse the heat. Hashtag: #1500HorsepowerProblems. For the 500 wealthy souls who will take delivery, the $2,998,000 Chiron is most certainly an emotional purchase. But it's backed by a battery of left-brain thinking aimed at making it a quicker, smoother, more involving car than its famously controversial predecessor. For starters, only five percent of the engine's parts are retained from the Veyron, the bulk of the new parts getting strengthened, lightened, and re-engineered to better cope with the thermal demands of the heightened output. The four turbochargers are 68 percent larger and now work sequentially so the first set can facilitate a torque plateau between 2,000 and 4,000 rpm. The larger, second set of turbos extend the flat line to 6,600 rpm. The seven-speed gearbox manufactured by Ricardo, which is essentially the only dry-sump dual-clutch on the production car market, has been strengthened and reinforced to withstand the engine's thumping 1,180 pound-feet of torque. The immense drivetrain is housed by a carbon-fiber chassis by Dallara that requires 1,500 hours to build. The Chiron also gains an adaptive chassis that uses five drive modes to set ride height, steering effort, damping, and power distribution.

Bugatti Chiron Sport Edition Noire Sportive marks the production halfway point

For Bugatti, possibly only for Bugatti, a 1,479-horsepower coupe with a quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16 is just the starting point. Bugatti unveiled the Chiron in 2016 with the intent of building 500 examples, and four years later, 250 units and numerous extraordinary limited-editions have been crafted. To mark the occasion, Bugatti will show No. 250, a Chiron Sport Edition Noire Sportive, at the 2020 Geneva International Auto Show, where it all began. Near the end of 2019, Bugatti announced two new blacked-out Chirons, one called the Chiron Noire Elegance and the other called the Chiron Noire Sportive. The Elegance model exhibits a reflective gloss, while the Sportive has a muted matte exterior. Backing up the Noire designation, the Sportive model goes completely black, with nearly nothing left to show off any sort of metallic sparkle. The Elegance, however, looks a bit more dressed up with aluminum and silver accents. Both feature Noire script graphics, including on the underside of the rear wing. The Noire models are limited to 20 examples total, and No. 250 will surely be one of the most interesting of the bunch. The Noire Elegance and Sportive follow in the footsteps of Bugatti's (and the world's) most expensive release, the Bugatti La Voiture Noire. A coachbuilt homage to the Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic, the La Voiture Noire reportedly cost more than $18 million, with fees and taxes factored in. It was limited to only one example, and it was only one of numerous special launches that spawned from the Chiron. In addition to the base Chiron, Bugatti has also released the lighter and sharper Chiron Sport, on which the car seen here is based. Then there was the Chiron-based Divo "for the bends," and then came the Chiron Super Sports 300+ to honor the car that broke the 300-mph barrier. Other special editions included the 110 ans Bugatti Chiron to honor the company's history and the Bugatti Centodieci that honors the Bugatti EB110 supercar. So much honor. For only having one car in its lineup, Bugatti sure has made a lot of different vehicles, and we recently found out it could have been more. In an Autoblog exclusive, we learned Bugatti also planned two never-before-seen coupes that would have been marketed alongside the Chiron. Unfortunately, they never made it through to see production. With 250 produced, only 250 remain, and their availability is getting increasingly more scarce.