Bugatti Grand Sport
Open Veyron shown; more rumours of hyper ‘GT’ version
The fabulous Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport had its public unveiling at the prestigious Pebble Beach concours in California last month. The first roofless Veyrons will be delivered early next year and will cost a cool 1.4million euros plus taxes (around £1.33m). The cost of the standard Veyron will rise at the same time, to 1.2m euros (£1.14m).
Veyron production will now continue until 2012, but CEO Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen was keeping tight-lipped about its replacement when quizzed by evo. He did say that now Bugatti was known for producing the ultimate in terms of speed and luxury, this would continue with the replacement car. He said it would continue to occupy the top position in the market. He admitted that Bugatti had looked at doing a cheaper car but had decided this was not what its customers wanted them to do.
And what of the much-rumoured Veyron GT, the ‘super-Veyron’? Dr Paefgen revealed that there had been some customer requests for an extra special, more powerful version of the Veyron, and Bugatti was considering building a limited run, but it was still not ready to be signed off yet. Later, Bugatti engineering chief Dr Wolfgang Schreiber told evo that the Veyron gearbox can cope with up to 1500Nm of torque (well up on the current peak of 1250Nm) and the engine will easily produce another 100bhp – the best clue yet, perhaps, to what we can expect should the Veyron GT get the nod.
View Grand Sport gallery here
View online videos here
