2016 Bugatti Chiron specifications leaked ahead of Geneva debut

Read our full review of the Bugatti Chiron

The Chiron name is taken from the 1920s and 1930s grand prix racer Louis Chiron, who scored notable results in European Championship events for Bugatti, including winning the 1931 French Grand Prix at the wheel of a Bugatti T51. His career was interrupted by the war, but he went on to race for marques including Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and Maserati.

Latest spy pictures have shown a late-stage prototype for the Chiron in testing. Although much of its styling is camouflaged, new elements including thinner LED headlight clusters, a more prominent front grille and flatter bonnet can be seen. It's already known that the Chiron will take some styling inspiration from the recent Vision Gran Turismo concept car, which made its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September. At the time, Bugatti officials said the concept's styling was an early look at the firm's new design language.

The original 1000bhp hypercar tests our mettle on the test track - read how the Bugatti Veyron ranks in our eyes

Although no straight-line performance figures for the Chiron have been revealed, Wolfgang Dürheimer, Bugatti's president, said: “The development brief for the Chiron can be summarised in one sentence, which is probably the shortest in the history of the automobile: we want to make the best significantly better. The Chiron will set new standards in every respect. We will continue to produce the world’s most powerful, fastest, most luxurious and most exclusive production super sports car. This is the claim of Bugatti and our customers.

"In Louis Chiron, we found a worthy patron for a new model in the history of our brand. The name of the best racing driver and the most successful Bugatti driver of his time for the best super sports car of the present day – that is the ideal combination.”

Chiron prototypes had previously been spotted at Los Angeles airport earier this summer. Durheimer has pledged that "no other production super sports car of this calibre will be subjected to such a stringent, comprehensive test programme."

Models of the Chiron are reported to have been shown to prospective customers already. Bugatti says it already has 100 confirmed orders for the car. Durheimer said: “The feedback from our customers concerning the Chiron is outstanding. Our order book is steadily filling up. More than 100 customers have already ordered the Chiron despite the fact that they have had no opportunity so far to experience the fantastic driving properties of the Chiron."

Early in 2015, Bugatti also released the first official preview video for the car, accompanied by the statement "a new chapter begins". The sound of an engine can also be heard at the end of the video.

Back in June of last year, former VW Group boss Martin Winterkorn gave the first official confirmation that a successor to the Bugatti Veyron will be built - and stated that it will have a hybrid powertrain, as predicted by Autocar in 2014.

"Next to the petrol model there will be a hybrid version with added performance for the first time," Winterkorn told German magazine Bild. It is not clear if his comment suggests there will be separate hybrid and conventionally engined models, although the development costs of two powertrains make it highly unlikely.

In 2014, Autocar revealed that development work had begun on a follow-up to the Veyron, with the firm looking to raise the lofty performance of its hypercar with a new 286mph successor.

The Veyron replacement is set to adopt a heavily updated version of its predecessor’s turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 engine. It will produce in the region of 1500ps (1479bhp), officials involved in the new car’s development have revealed.

The eagerly anticipated replacement for the Veyron is set to build on the key strengths of its successor by offering “the fastest top speed of any series-production road car, together with the sort of driveability to allow you to use it every day”, according to company officials.

As with the car that it replaces, the new Bugatti has been conceived around a carbonfibre monocoque that provides seating for two in what is planned to be a highly luxurious cabin, complete with all of the very latest in connectivity technology. 

The heavily revised powertrain, which receives electric assistance, is mounted to the rear bulkhead in a traditional mid-engine layout, with drive channelled to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and multi-plate-clutch four-wheel drive system.

Read the full Bugatti Veyron review

Earlier plans by Bugatti to replace the mid-engined Veyron with a production version of the front-engined 16C Galibier saloon concept were cancelled following consultation with customers, who are said to have favoured a more extreme sports car with the performance to outrun the latest crop of 
high-end supercars.  

Since the launch of the original Veyron in 2005, the hypercar ranks have been transformed with ever more advanced contenders.

The emergence of battery-propelled hybrid drive systems and dual-clutch automatic gearboxes, along with the continued development of lightweight construction technologies and advanced active suspension systems, has resulted in an explosion in performance potential as well as unprecedented levels of efficiency, as seen on recent arrivals such as the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari, all of which Bugatti has set firmly in its sights.  

Although secrecy surrounds exactly what specification of engine the as-yet unnamed Veyron replacement will receive, Autocar can confirm that it is based around the same quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 powerplant as 
its predecessor.

The engine is due to receive a series of revisions. Among them, a new direct-injection combustion process will replace the multi-point injection system that has been used up to now. This will be part of efforts to enable the engine to comply with more stringent Euro 6 emissions standards and dramatically reduce fuel consumption. The economy of the fastest Veyron derivative, the 1183bhp Super Sport, is put at just 12.2mpg.

Further changes are also said to be in store for the induction system. Nothing is official at this stage, but there are suggestions that engineers at Volkswagen’s engine development headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany, 
are looking to equip the unusually configured unit 
with electric turbochargers. 

Such a move is aimed at boosting the engine’s already prodigious low-end torque as well as enhancing efficiency levels through improvements in thermal qualities.

However, the big news centres around plans to provide the new Bugatti with hybrid drive by way of a disc-shaped electric motor mounted within the gearbox housing and a lithium ion battery. 

Read the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport review

Together, the petrol engine and electric motor are said to deliver up to 1479bhp. By comparison, the Veyron Super Sport has 1183bhp. Autocar sources suggest that torque will be capped at 1100lb ft for the sake of gearbox reliability.

Major efforts are also being made to ensure that the weight of the new car remains well below that of the 1840kg Veyron Super Sport, despite the adoption of hybrid drive.

“Much of the early construction work has been focused on the carbonfibre monocoque,” said an insider. “We have a lot of expertise centring around lightweight construction within the [Volkswagen] group and 
we’re drawing on this as we begin to lock in various engineering targets. ”

Also playing a big role in the development of the Veyron successor will be a series of new active aerodynamic functions that aim to provide varying levels of downforce depending on the driving mode chosen by the driver.

Among the performance benchmarks being targeted by Bugatti with its new model is the Super Sport World Record Edition’s official 0-62mph time of 2.5sec and 268mph top speed. Although it’s early days, officials have already advised prospective customers that the new car will be capable of eclipsing both existing benchmarks in production trim.

Nothing is official, but a 0-62mph time of 2.3sec and a 286mph top speed are said to be within the realms of possibility, according to one insider privy to early computer simulations.

However, proving the top speed could be tricky due to the challenges in finding a test site long enough and for tyre technology to support such a high-speed run. 

In readiness for the arrival of the Veyron replacement, Bugatti has already begun to prepare an upgrade of its assembly facilities in Molsheim, France. Among the planned developments is additional production line capacity and a larger warehouse – both aimed at speeding up assembly time in a bid to reduce waiting times, according to one high-ranking Bugatti official.

As with today’s car, production of the Chiron will be limited to about 450 units.