Bugatti Is 110 Years Old In 2019 And It’s Got The Typical Limited-Edition Hypercar To Show For It
Nobody can dispute the impressiveness of Bugatti’s history as a marque or the Chiron’s achievement as a piece of mechanical engineering, but the latest product from the French automaker is just too stereotypical of the contemporary market for the world’s fastest street cars to resist having a little bit of fun poked its way—this car checks all the boxes. This is a somewhat cynical take for the fun of it, and if this isn’t a 1,000+ horsepower cliché that you can both laugh at and lust after then perhaps things are being taken too seriously in your headspace. Is this car more than I can handle/afford/design/engineer? Yes. Is it something that resists eye-rolls? No.
Okay, those boxes. Limited edition? Of course. Just 20 of these will be made before the next extra-exclusive Chiron breaches and sells out before anyone hears about it. Anniversary edition on top of that? Yes, but they can’t be faulted for celebrating the big 110, and we all know every decade deserves a cash gra-… celebration. Matte paint? Yes, otherwise the reflections from Anish Kapoor’s mirror outside the casino would cause unacceptable degrees of glare. Country of origin flat motif in the paint scheme? Yup, French red, white, and, blues appear on the mirror caps and stripe the seats, along with a nice big flag graphic on the retractable rear wing’s nether regions so you can stay grounded while driving a car with just two seats and only 21 horses under 1,500.
Still more boxes to mark. Is the car “track-focused”? You bet. Was the first “normal” edition of the car it’s based on—the Chiron Sport—delivered to the first customer just weeks before this special edition injected some immediate buyer’s remorse? Well, how else would you time it? Does it have contrived names for normal colors? Yes, in this case the black wheels are actually “Nocturne” wheels. Is any of the carbon fiber “exposed”? Oh yeah it is! But only partially, otherwise that’d be a little too 2 Fast 2 Furious. Carbon is a bit like AMG badges on a taxi-spec C-Class; those who know cars know these cars have plenty of carbon fiber, and those who don’t, don’t really care.
Is it a completely bananas machine that I would delight at the chance to just see in person? For sure. It’s a bitchin’ car, and it’s weird to call something this unique typical. The fact that Bugatti is still kicking—it doesn’t matter who owns who, they’re still able to build some of the most era-defining supercars and put their logos on them, whether we wish they were McLaren F1s or not—is a feat unto itself. The fact that they are building cars with 16 cylinders and four turbos and a warranty is incredible, and very much worth celebrating. Happy birthday Bugatti!
Photography by Daniel Wollstein courtesy of Bugatti
