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Action-packed photographs of high-performance Italian cars used to line the walls of a small pizzeria in southern France.
Hungry tourists ate while ogling the Lamborghini Countach, the Ferrari F50 and, confusingly, the Bugatti Veyron. The name sounds Italian, and founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, but every car he designed came to life in an Alsatian town named Molsheim.
This tradition continues today with the Chiron, the latest torchbearer of the brand’s heritage. We stepped behind-the-scenes for a first-hand look at how to make a Chiron.
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The Atelier
Bugatti calls the semi-oval, glass-walled factory it inaugurated in 2005 the Atelier. It’s located a stone’s throw from the castle Ettore Bugatti purchased in the early 1900s (pictured), the stables he used to keep his horses in and his personal greenhouse, in which he grew various tropical fruit trees and basil. He built an electric car, the Type 56, to get around his property.
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Giving the buildings a new purpose
One of the stables now houses a selection of classic cars, including the aforementioned Type 56, and two examples of the Veyron. The second building is home to a library and the customer lounge, where buyers go to configure their car.
Recently restored, the greenhouse (pictured) remains full of trees. Bugatti notes it’s the only building founder Ettore added to the property during his lifetime.
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Production
The production process relies exclusively on human hands, not algorithms and software; there is not a single robot present inside the facility and nothing that resembles an assembly line in the conventional sense of the term. The Atelier employs about 20 workers to assemble cars, 17 men and women for logistics and 15 in charge of quality.
In 2017, Bugatti built 70 cars in Molsheim. It expects to make about 70 more this year. Building a Chiron takes months, which explains why the waiting list is roughly three and a half years long.
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Sourcing the parts
The company doesn’t manufacture its own parts. It sources everything from European suppliers. The carbon fibre monocoque comes from Dallara, AP Racing supplies the brake calipers and Sparco manufactures the seats - all three firms hail from Italy. Highly-trained mechanics spend about a week assembling the quad-turbocharged, 16-cylinder engine in a special Volkswagen Group facility. Bugatti orders the parts required to make a Chiron approximately three months before production begins.
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Before production
Most buyers travel to Molsheim at least once during the production process. Some go there for a test drive, others meet with designers in the lounge to configure their car and a few even spend time in the Atelier assembling their Chiron alongside the workers. Bugatti also gives buyers the option of picking up their car right at the factory and driving it home.
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Not your average configurator
Bugatti calls the Chiron’s meticulous step-by-step production process Formula One-like. Conversely, it points out the process of ordering and configurating a car draws inspiration from the world of haute couture. Buyers can notably choose between 31 shades of leather, eight types of Alcantara plus 30 stitching, 18 carpet and 11 seatbelt colours. That’s just the standard selection. They can also work with the brand’s designers to customize nearly every aspect of their car.
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The first steps
The Chiron travels through 12 stations in the Atelier. The first step of the process involves bolting the engine and the gearbox into a single unit and assembling the front sub-frame. Workers then marry the monocoque and the rear portion of the car using 14 titanium screws. The chassis is ready after about a week’s worth of labour. It moves to the filling station where it receives oil, coolant, brake fluid and its first tank of petrol.
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Lightweight materials
In some parts of the Chiron’s body, Bugatti fills the space between carbon fibre walls with foam and an aluminium honeycomb structure. Inserts also made with aluminium secure bolts when needed. These mass-reducing materials play a key role in keeping the Chiron’s weight in check.
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Some assembly required
The individual parts that make up a Chiron arrive labelled and organized on carts. Foam inserts protect each part. Bugatti notes building a car from start to finish requires assembling over 1800 parts, and it points out about 1800 bolted joints hold the Chiron together. Workers rely on a set of digital torque wrenches to ensure each one is as tight as it needs to be.
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On the dyno
Once it’s drivable, the rolling Chiron chassis gets an alignment and workers calibrate the various electronic functions, like the traction and stability control systems and the ABS. It’s then placed on a rolling dynamometer and driven for nearly 40 miles at speeds of up to 124mph. The test takes about two and a half hours.
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Feeding the power grid
Christophe Piochon, Bugatti’s board member for production and logistics, told Autocar the brand had to order a new dynamometer capable of coping with the Chiron’s monstrous horsepower and torque outputs. The unit used to test the Veyron wasn’t up to the task. It’s essentially a huge generator.
The firm channels the excess electricity produced while testing each car directly into Molsheim’s power grid. Charge your phone in a local brasserie and the power it draws could come from a Bugatti’s four wheels.
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Keeping cool
The Chiron’s cooling system relies on three main water pumps. Coolant moves between each end of the car in hoses about as wide as the spray lance used by fire fighters and it travels at an even higher flow rate. The hoses are visible in front of the wheel here but they’re normally covered by the body.
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Plane-like
The rear wing’s mounting points are located on either side of the exhaust system. Inspired by the world of aviation, the wing turns into an air brake when needed to help bring the Chiron to a stop. It might sound gimmicky but it makes a noticeable difference at triple-digit speeds.
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Final assembly
Workers spend about three days installing and adjusting the carbon fibre body panels, which Bugatti receives pre-painted. The Chiron gets battered with monsoon-like rain for half an hour to check for leaks before getting a full interior. It’s done after this step, it looks like what you see gleaming under spotlights at an auto show, but it’s not yet ready for its new owner.
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Two test drives
Every Chiron needs to complete two test drives on public roads. During the first test, the car leaves the Atelier and drives down to the picturesque town of Colmar on the sinuous roads that meander through the Vosges mountains. The Colmar airport lets Bugatti test its cars on its runway between take-offs and landings. Piochon explained test pilots communicate with the control tower with walkie-talkies to know when it’s safe to sprint down the runway at nearly 200mph.
Following the high-speed jaunt, the car cruises back to Molsheim at a more sensible pace. After receiving new fluids, it embarks on a second, shorter test drive the following day.
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Protecting the car
The company wraps the front end in transparent film to avoid damage from rocks and other debris in the road. For the same reason, finished cars don’t get their own wheels or underbody cover until they return from the first test drive.
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Cleaning and polishing
With the drivetrain signed off, each Chiron spends about three days in the cleaning and polishing station. It then goes through a light tunnel, where a quality specialist inspects every square inch of the car for six hours to identify any and all imperfections that need to be fixed. It goes back to the cleaning station before taking a final trip to the inspection station.
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The green light
The Chiron receives the green light for delivery at the end of this meticulous process. It’s only eligible for to leave the Atelier for good once it’s absolutely perfect. By that point, it will have spent about two months in Molsheim, occasionally breaking the silence of Alsace’s wine-making countryside with its bellowing 1500hp engine.
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Traveling the world
Europe remains the Chiron’s single largest market, though Bugatti doesn’t break sales down by country. The US stands out as the car’s second biggest market, followed by the Middle East and Asia. The company’s sales network includes 34 dealers scattered around the world.
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After-sales service
Bugatti operates its own repair facility next to the factory. It also employs a team of flying doctors that wirelessly monitor the world’s Veyron and Chiron population and make house calls when needed. Piochon told us the flying doctors receive a notification on their phone whenever a Chiron registers an error code – whether it’s in Paris, Beijing or Lima.
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What’s it like to drive?
It takes a special kind of machine to make cars like the Lamborghini Aventador S feel tame. The Chiron does just that. Its 16-cylinder engine pelts it forward with a roar that sounds like a Boeing 747’s Pratt & Whitney engine that swallowed a hot rod. But you’d expect that from a 1500hp car, wouldn’t you?
What surprised us was how composed the Chiron remains in all driving conditions. The wheels never spin, even when you floor it, and it’s relatively easy to handle in spite of its daunting specifications sheet. The driver dances with the Chiron instead of wrestling against it.
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TECH SPECS
8.0-litre W16 Quad-Turbo 2dr Auto 0-62mph: 2.5secTop speed: 261mphCO2: 516g/kmMPG: 12.5Approx Price : £2.2m (UK), €2.4 (Europe), US$3m (USA)
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