News: Something Wicked This Way Comes
December 1, 2007
Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron Pur Sang
The auto industry is in full repentance mode, with several luxury makes spotlighting environmentally responsible machines. Yet there is still room for over-the-top supercar indulgence, as evidenced by the Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang.
This Pur Sang is a limited edition of what is already one of the world’s most strictly limited automobiles—the Veyron 16.4, notable for combining a minimalist exterior with a maximalist approach to performance and price. The Pur Sang—"pure blood" in French, though "thoroughbred" is the closer English translation—resembles an art-school study in bare carbon-fiber and unpainted aluminum.
If the MV Agusta F4CC draws two-wheeled inspiration from Bugatti’s no-limits philosophy, then the Pur Sang could be said to take a cue from naked bikes, which peel back coverings to expose the musculature and mechanical glories beneath. "It gives an exhibition of what’s really under the car, and it’s spectacular," said Alasdair Stewart, Bugatti’s worldwide sales and marketing chief.
Of course, as the fastest production car in history, the 253-mph Bugatti is the rare automobile that can leave a motorcycle in its 16-cylinder, 1,001-hp wake.
The Bugatti’s monocoque structure houses all core components, including a pair of conjoined Volkswagen W-8 engines with four turbochargers; wheel linkages, crash structures and the passenger cell—all visible at the car’s center.
Stewart says the Pur Sang was created at the behest of a U.S. client who wanted a Veyron minus the paint, highlighting the black-woven fiber and polished aluminum. Intrigued, the company decided to built not one but five. That one-hand count seems hardly worth mentioning, since all five of the $2 million machines were snapped up by unidentified buyers within 24 hours of its unveiling in Frankfurt. Those cars will likely be built and delivered beginning in mid-2008 to its buyers in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Germany.
The price is a breathtaking $600,000 premium over the standard Veyron, though there are no mechanical differences whatsoever. Stewart allows that even the most besotted Bugatti fan may well be expecting the Pur Sang’s rarity to justify its value as a long-term investment.
Since Volkswagen revived the long-dormant brand, Bugatti has delivered more than 100 Veyrons since 2006, from its Molsheim facility in the Alsace region of France. As for potential buyers who missed out on the Pur Sang, the encouraging news is that Bugatti remains committed to building up to 300 Veyrons.
Bugatti, www.bugatti.com
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