Bugatti will launch a second, smaller model in three years’ time to sell alongside its 987bhp 8.0-litre W16-powered colossus, the much-delayed Veyron.
The new baby Bugatti, under development at the firm’s R&D base at Braunschweig, Germany, will be made in greater numbers and sold at a much lower price than the 50-a-year, €1 million (£670,000) Veyron.
The two options facing Bugatti are a mid-engined sports car or a four-seat coupé. Both could offer all the traditional Bugatti qualities of prestige, luxury and performance.
Further details remain scarce at this stage, but new boss Thomas Bscher revealed the first nuggets of information about the new small Bugatti last week.
In an interview with our German sister magazine, auto motor und sport, Bscher hinted the new car could be sold for as little as €100,000 (£67,000) and would be produced at a projected rate of 2000 per year.
Unlike the almost entirely unique Veyron – whose eagerly awaited launch has now been put back until mid-2005 – the new baby Bugatti will share a large percentage of its mechanical package with other cars in the highly diverse VW Group line-up, including models from Lamborghini, Bentley and Audi.
‘We have to rely on all the components from within the VW group,’ Bscher said. ‘I can also imagine a close association with Bentley. Bentley and Bugatti would fit well together – a small Bugatti would not compete with a Bentley and it would help their needs, too.’
Bscher admitted that Bugatti is aiming to move into profit in 2009, once the second model range is up to speed.
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