The Car on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bugatti Chiron roadster could be in the works

Regular reversals make it hard to tell what Bugatti will do next. In 2018, the Molsheim, France-based carmaker said it wouldn't go after the 300-mph mark, screaming from the mountaintop that would be "missing a big part of what the [Chiron] is all about." Not even a year later, a modestly reformed Chiron reached 304.773 mph at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track, the feat spun into the $5.19M Chiron Super Sport 300+ and, more recently, the $580,000 Jacob Twin Turbo Furious 300+ wristwatch. In 2019, Bugatti said "There will be no SUV." Eight months later, Bugatti revealed it had already designed a crossover, and that "some potential customers have seen it, and they liked it." If The Supercar Blog is correct, we could have another take-back on our hands. In 2016, Bugatti pronounced the Chiron would get "no roadster or convertible" version. Since then, the closest accommodation the Chiron makes to open-air motoring is the fixed Sky View roof panels. But TSB sources told the outlet "Bugatti does intend to build" a Chiron roadster. It's not clear if this would be a one-off like the La Voiture Noire or a limited run like the Divo or Centodieci, but TSB states Bugatti is "reportedly gauging interest in a one-of-a-kind open-top variant." A one-off roofless screamer is one of Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann's go-to maneuvers, though. When Winkelmann ran Lamborghini, he commissioned designers to work up the Aventador J roadster for the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, later selling the car's birth as a customer commission. The following year, he presided over the creation of the single-seater, targa-top Egoista for the brand's 50th anniversary. Bugatti has a much deeper roadster tradition than Lamborghini, offering plenty of material to pull from that designers have so far barely mined. With a rumored price of ˆ9 million ($10.1M U.S.), Bugatti's roofless hypercar wouldn't be a 'mere' targa-ficiation of the Chiron mimicking the Veyron Grand Sport. The asking price is a nice condominium beyond the ˆ8 million ($8.9M U.S.) sought for the Centodieci, the EB110 homage limited to ten units, and a good deal less than the $18.7M sum needed for the La Voiture Noire.   If there's any truth to this, guesswork says Bugatti's either doing up a roofless roadster in the vein of the Bentley Bacalar or a speedster in the Ferrari SP1 mold. More detail than that will need to wait until another source pipes up, or Bugatti decides to drop hints.

Enjoy a look at the World's Fastest Police Fleet in Dubai

Last year, it seemed like nearly every month there was news of an additional hypercar joining the fleet of the Dubai Police. It was shocking enough when the force showed off its Lamborghini Aventador, but the armada kept growing to include even more exotic vehicles like an Aston Martin One-77 and eventually even a Bugatti Veyron. To understand the point of building this assortment of supercars, the crew from Vocativ went behind the scenes with the Dubai Police and into the immaculate warehouse where the cars are kept. The Veyron and Aventador are just the headline-grabbers. When their Audi R8 and Nissan GT-R are getting short shrift, you know it must have a wild collection. The video is a fascinating look inside the force and gets some insight into why the Dubai Police would spend around $6.5 million to build this collection. It certainly isn't to catch speeders... Scroll down to learn what it's all about. News Source: Vocativ via YouTube Bugatti Lamborghini Police/Emergency Videos dubai dubai police

As VW electrifies, it questions the role of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen needs to change to stay relevant in the electric and digital vehicle era and will announce "important steps" to that end before the close of the year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday. "Volkswagen needs to change: From a collection of valuable brands and fascinating combustion-engine products that thrill customers with superb engineering — to a digital company that reliably operates millions of mobility devices worldwide," Diess told shareholders at the company's virtual general meeting. Vehicles need to stay in contact with customers, offer new services and comfort functions on a weekly or even daily basis, he said. "We will take further important steps to set the course for this in the rest of 2020," Diess said. Senior executives told Reuters the company is reviewing what role its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati will play as the company increasingly focuses on electric, digital and autonomous vehicles. Volkswagen, which also owns VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda, is looking at whether it has the resources to accelerate development of electric platforms for smaller brands at a time it is investing billions to transform its more mainstream cars. Asked whether Ducati, which is known for making noisy combustion-engined motorbikes, has an electric future, Markus Duesmann, who oversees research and development for the group, said: "It will not take long until we see an electric Ducati." Whether Ducati, which is a medium-sized premium motorbike brand, would offer an electric variant, depends on whether a bike could offer range comparable to a combustion-engined variant, Duesmann said. Advances are being made in battery technology which could make this possible, he added. Separately Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer, in response to a question about whether a sale of Lamborghini is planned, said Volkswagen does not comment on speculation about potential divestments. Lamborghini's Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali this week announced his departure from the sports car maker to take on a new job as president of Formula One. VW needs cash Volkswagen is reviewing the future of these three high-performance brands as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars, senior executives told Reuters.