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It was early 2006, and with relatively little fanfare the
Bugatti Veyron was unveiled in its production form to a crowd of cynical
journalists. This was in stark contrast to its ill-fated predecessor,
the EB110, which got its own celebratory parade through downtown Paris.
It may be hard to believe that one could ever be skeptical about a Bugatti,
but after the Veyron’s trouble-prone gestation and high-profile
failures, many of the journalists assembled were unsure of what to expect.
From the outset, the Veyron concept, which started life
as merely a bold proclamation of performance figures by the Volkswagen
Group's then-chairman Ferdinand Piëch, was to be the fastest and
most luxurious supercar yet. Interestingly, the intriguing specification
was announced at the very beginning: It was to have a W16 engine –
no other car in production today has 16 cylinders – mated to four
turbochargers, four-wheel drive, and two automated clutches. Most importantly,
it was to have 1000 horsepower and a top speed of 250 mph. That’s
400 km/h. Pricing was also given: one million euros.
This was the biggest number ever attached to a major production supercar.
Since the iconic McLaren F1 supercar of the early 1990s, there have been
other attempts at attention-grabbing figures like the Veyron's, but these
Le Mans-bred cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Porsche GT1, and Dauer
962 were often barely more than thinly-disguised racers with token silencers
and some extra trim. The Bugatti, however, was fully road ready; an everyday
kind of car that was easy to drive, comfortable, and somewhat compact.
At the flick of one’s right foot, however, it could reach warp speed
in an angry instant whenever you wanted it to, safe in the knowledge its
giant grip levels wouldn’t throw you into the passing scenery. Even
without engaging the special key to unlock its full 400 km/h potential,
it was faster than pretty much everything else on the road.
The brief had been fulfilled, and then some.
They may not have known it at the time, but it is quite possible that
what these lucky reporters were witnessing was a new chapter in the history
of the supercar. The game, by all accounts, had moved on. How could anybody
hope to better the brilliant newcomer?
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