The Car on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bugatti previews enigmatic new car ahead of Monterey debut

Bugatti will travel to The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, with a surprise up its sleeve. The French company released a short video that previews a mysterious new model on its social media channels, but the 12-second teaser film asks more questions than it answers. Let's start with what we see: The video zooms in on four horizontal LED strips that look like they're either a headlight or part of one. If we're indeed looking at a headlight, the new model seemingly steers clear of borrowing styling cues from the Chiron, which wears horizontal units. Deciphering the various hashtags isn't much help. Bugatti titled the video "Unlock an Icon" and hinted that it's "#OpeningUpNewHorizons." UNLOCK AN ICON 19 AUGUST 2022 | 10:20 PST (17:20 GMT) THE QUAIL, A MOTORSPORTS GATHERING#BUGATTI #MontereyCarWeek #TheQuail@TheQuailEvents pic.twitter.com/NP0v0AF2CS — Bugatti (@Bugatti) August 15, 2022 As for the rest, well ... your guess is as good as ours. Whatever we're looking at, it will be the first new Bugatti model since Croatia-based Rimac took over the brand in June 2021. Company founder Mate Rimac stressed that Bugatti won't immediately drop piston-powered cars, and he also argued against lazily taking the electric Nevera and putting a Bugatti logo on it. Bugatti announced in January 2022 that the Chiron is sold out, though the W16-powered coupe remains in production, so the car depicted in the preview video likely isn't another variant of it (like, say, the Super Sport). All of our questions will be answered when the next addition to the Bugatti family makes its debut at 10:20 a.m. PDT this Friday, August 19, in Monterey, California. That's 1:20 p.m. in New York City and 7:20 p.m. in Bugatti's hometown of Molsheim, France. Bugatti Luxury Performance

Bugatti's Chiron successor will make its debut on June 20 with V16 power

Bugatti built the final Chiron, a Super Sport model called L'Ultime, in May 2024. We won't have to wait long to find out what's next: the brand has already announced that the Chiron's successor will get a new V16 engine, and it confirmed the model will make its debut on June 20. Little is known about the model — its name hasn't even been revealed yet. We're guessing it will inaugurate a new nameplate rather than land as, say, the second-generation Chiron, though this is pure speculation. What's certain is that the model will be new from the ground up. The quad-turbocharged W16 engine that has powered every Bugatti since the brand's revival will join the pantheon of automotive history. Instead, the Chiron's successor will use a new V16 engine developed in-house. The 16-cylinder will be part of a hybrid system, and Bugatti has previously described its next hypercar as being "heavily electrified." The chassis will be entirely new as well, so it will be interesting to see how Bugatti manages to offset the weight added by the hybrid system. For context, the Chiron was built largely out of carbon fiber. Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti's former head of design, previously told Autoblog that starting the project on a blank slate allowed his team to fine-tune the car's proportions."[The car] will certainly be tailored to one or the other aspect of a hybrid," he explained. The interior will evolve as well, but don't expect wall-to-wall screens. "Bugatti models need to sit on the lawn at Pebble Beach in 50 years and work," he summed up. While nothing suggests the Chiron's replacement will go retro, Bugatti notes it rummaged through its catalog of past models for inspiration. The Type 57 SC Atlantic, the Type 41 Royale, and the Type 35 all shaped the new car. The French brand considers the first two its most beautiful and its most luxurious cars, respectively, and the latter is widely credited as one of the most successful Grand Prix cars ever raced. Bugatti will stream the unveiling on its YouTube channel, and Autoblog will be there live to bring you fresh images of the car. Bugatti Luxury Performance Supercars

Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.