Press release9/2/2015

“This is for the fans: Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo” – Show car coming to Frankfurt Motor Show as world premiere

“This is for the fans: Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo” – Show car coming to Frankfurt Motor Show as world premiere

Molsheim

Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Karl Piëch was the driving force behind one of the most audacious automotive projects in history: the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Today, on April 17, we celebrate the birthday of this remarkable visionary.​
With the Veyron, Ferdinand Karl Piëch made his ambition clear: deliver the extraordinary, the unsurpassed, the ultimate. ​
In 1997, while on a train between Tokyo and Nagoya, Ferdinand K. Piëch sketched an idea on the back of an envelope – a vision that would lay the foundation for the legendary W16 and ultimately change the automotive world.​
As in previous Bugatti models, the Tourbillon's engine is always visible and is a work of art in its own right.
The naturally aspirated V16 engine alone produces 1,000 HP at 9,000 rpm and delivers 900 Nm of torque.
The 8.3-liter naturally aspirated V16 engine is a completely new innovation and has been specifically designed to meet the extreme requirements of Bugatti's new hyper sports car.
The new mechanical powertrain of the Tourbillon is unique in the automotive world with a length of almost one meter.
The plenum, a critical component in any naturally aspirated engine, became a key point of the design process as Bugatti worked to achieve the perfect balance between performance and aesthetics.
The new mechanical heart of the Bugatti Tourbillon is handcrafted by the world-renowned engine specialists at Cosworth.
Episode 7 of ‘A New Era’ takes viewers through a significant milestone in the development of Bugatti's new V16 engine.
Countless test-runs on Cosworth's engine dynos helped the team to better understand the performance characteristics, sound quality, and overall behavior of the new engine.
Unlike conventional early-stage testing, which often begins with the construction of a single-cylinder prototype engine, Bugatti took a more ambitious approach and built an initial test engine with four cylinders.
Marco Arnoletti, Powertrain Chief Engineer at Bugatti Rimac, and Emilio Scervo, CTO of Bugatti Rimac, reflect on the history of the new naturally aspirated V16 engine.
Excellence through continuous learning. Ongoing technical training ensures every Bugatti Service Partner upholds the marque’s exacting standards.​
Christophe Piochon, President of Bugatti, welcoming Service Partners to Molsheim. Strengthening relationships and honoring contributions at the heart of the brand.​
Service Partners together with the Bugatti team in front of the Château Saint-Jean, Molsheim. A moment of pride and tradition as the service teams gather at the historic home of Bugatti for the Bugatti Customer Service Accreditation Training.​
Sharing the Bugatti ethos. Dedication to craftsmanship, innovation, and attention to detail — the foundation of every Bugatti service interaction.​
Hendrik Malinowksi, Managing Director at Bugatti, exchanging ideas at Château Saint-Jean during the welcoming in the Château Saint-Jean. Celebrating collaboration and commitment to continuous improvement in aftersales service.​
BUGATTI Greenwich – Regional Service Partner of the Year. Recognized for outstanding service delivery and commitment to Bugatti’s core values in North America.​
Bugatti Vienna – Most Improved Service Partner of 2024. A team driven by excellence, pictured with one of Bugatti's engineering masterpieces, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition.​
The Bugatti Service Excellence Award 2024 – A symbol of precision, dedication, and the pursuit of perfection, awarded only to those who meet the highest standards of service.​
Alexis Ploix, Director of After Sales and Customer Service, introducing the attendees to the home of the marque. Sharing insights and strategy to uphold the unmatched customer service experience.​
Bugatti UAE – Global Service Partner of the Year 2024. Honored with the top accolade for setting the benchmark in customer service and operational excellence worldwide.​
Power is in the small details. Hands-on expertise reflects the commitment to delivering a customer experience that’s as refined as the vehicles themselves.​
Bugatti Zurich – Regional Service Partner of the Year, celebrating exceptional performance and customer service excellence in the European region.​
The Tourbillon marks a new era for Bugatti, in which the design team is breaking new ground while drawing inspiration from the brand's rich heritage.
Frank Heyl, Director of Design at Bugatti, and Jan Schmid, Chief Designer Exterior and Head of the Berlin Studio.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin is a creative space that fosters and inspires the talents of designers.
Exterior design, color and trim, and 3D modeling are the main disciplines of the Berlin design team.
Bugatti designers are using cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality to develop the next generation of hyper sports cars.
In order to meet the brand's highest standards, every material, color, and cut is carefully selected and tailored to the customer's wishes.
Bugatti customers and designers have access to a virtually unlimited range of colors.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in the listed E-Werk building pays homage to the long tradition that has shaped Bugatti for more than 115 years.
A 1,100 square-meter studio was created in an industrial building of purist beauty that has stood the test of time and still reflects this today.
The Tourbillon marks a new era for Bugatti, in which the design team is breaking new ground while drawing inspiration from the brand's rich heritage.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The new Bugatti Design Studio in Berlin connects tradition with innovation and modernity.
The four concept studies – EB 118, EB 218, EB 18/3 Chiron and EB 18/4 Veyron –immortalised in 2000 in the historic gardens of Herrenhäuser near Hanover.​
The EB 118, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October 1998 and marks the first milestone on the path to the Bugatti Veyron 16.4.​
In the spring of 1999, Bugatti presented the EB 218 – one of the few four-door concepts ever designed by the brand.​
The Art Deco-inspired interior of the EB 218 set new standards in luxury, comfort, and craftsmanship.​
Unveiled in September 1999, the EB 18/3 Chiron embodied Bugatti's first vision of a modern super sports car.​
Ferdinand Piëch’s vision of a W18 engine became reality. The 555-horsepower all-wheel-drive W18 served as the foundation for all four design studies and could be admired openly from the outside for the first time in the EB 18/3 Chiron.​
The EB 18/4 Veyron, presented in Tokyo in 1999, embodied a new stylistic direction under the leadership of Hartmut Warkuß. The design was penned by the young designer Jozef Kabaň.​
Each concept was defined by exceptional creativity and unparalleled technical ambition, speaking its own design language – from the Grand Tourer to the luxury sedan, all the way to the mid-engine sports car.​
Not only in the exterior of the EB 18/4 Veyron are some features of the later production version of the Veyron 16.4 clearly visible, but the interior also reflects many design elements that would define the final Veyron.​
Ferdinand K. Piëch pursued the vision of creating a vehicle capable of reaching 400 km/h – without compromising on comfort, elegance, or usability. The four concept studies served as crucial stepping stones on the path to turning this vision into reality.​
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Bugatti fans, petrol heads and gamers have reason to look forward to the 66th International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt. Specifically for the motor show, Bugatti has transformed a virtual project into tangible reality.

For the French super sports car brand will be presenting its virtual concept Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo, which it developed in cooperation with Polyphony Digital Inc., creator of the Gran Turismo video game franchise, as a real show car. Now Bugatti has published the first digital renderings of the car. The design of the virtual race car is celebrating Bugatti’s racing history and is based on state-of-the-art motor sport technology. The project is the brand’s tribute to its great racing tradition of the 1920s and 1930s and its victories in Le Mans 24-hour races.

“The Bugatti design team normally works only for the exclusive and very distinguished circle of the brand’s customers. Now Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo has given us the opportunity, for the first time, to do something special for our fans as well,” explained Achim Anscheidt, the head of Bugatti Design. “When the target group suddenly grows from 450 Veyron owners to several million fans, gamers and high performance aficionados, it is a very exciting matter. We had a lot of fun with this project.”

The designers drew their inspiration from the brand’s successful racing tradition. Bugatti enjoyed great success in racing in the 1920s and 1930s. The historical theme for the design of the Vision Gran Turismo virtual modern race car was, in particular, the Bugatti Type 57 Tank and its victories in the 24-hour Le Mans race in 1937 and 1939. Consequently, the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo makes its appearance in the classic blue two-tone finish of the Type 57 G Tank, the winning car in 1937, simultaneously evoking the colours of the historical French race cars of that period. Since then, blue has also been Bugatti’s brand colour.

Although the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo will be racing in a class in which the cars generally have little or no relationship to real road vehicles, and their designs therefore are far more extreme and performance-oriented than that of a street-legal car, two things were important to the design team: First, the virtual car should look unmistakably like a Bugatti and completely embody the brand values of ‘Art, Forme, Technique’, and second, every part of the vehicle should have a real function. Consequently, the virtual race car was developed in close cooperation with the Bugatti engineers and is based on cutting-edge racing technology and precise aerodynamic analyses.

“In the Bugatti Veyron, we have developed a super sports car which unites two characteristics, the beauty and the beast,” explained Anscheidt. “The Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo embodies the performance beast. It has a more radical and extreme style. This is a thorough-bred Bugatti for the virtual race track, not for the street.”

“Under no circumstances did we want to create a retro-style race car in memory of the successes in Le Mans, but rather to transfer the feeling and mood of these special moments in Bugatti’s history to a modern vehicle,” said Sasha Selipanov, the Head of Exterior Design Creative Development. “As an acknowledged Gran Turismo fan, it is a great adventure for me to bring a brand which was once so successful in racing back to the virtual track.”

“We are taking Bugatti back to its roots,” he added. The Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo’s expressive form language is dominated by large convex surfaces in contrast to concave transitions and strong lines. This lends the vehicle styling precision and surface tensions of the highest quality. The proportions of the car are uncompromisingly athletic and shaped to meet the car’s performance goals.

The designers have unmistakably transferred the most important characteristics of Bugatti’s design DNA into the styling of the virtual race car. Consequently, the side view of the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo is characterised by the famous Bugatti line. And the virtual race car has also been furnished with the most recognisable symbol of a Bugatti, the horse shoe on the front grille. It is placed in the centre of the central front air intake as three-dimensional sculpture and supports the structure between the wings and the aerodynamic front splitter. The horse shoe is flanked by the eight-eyed headlights, which were developed especially for the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo.

Another typical Bugatti design element is the centre fin, which originated on the legendary Type 57 Atlantic from 1936. The designers employ two versions of the fin on the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo: one on the front and rear wings, where they contribute to the appearance of the vehicle and the other running the length of the roof, where it makes an important contribution to the car’s dynamic stability.

An interesting detail on the roof is the NACA air intake, which, with its contrasting light blue finish, not only has a strikingly beautiful shape but also makes a crucial contribution to the control of the aerodynamic conditions on top of and at the rear of the car without compromising the effectiveness of the impressive rear wing.

The car has a strong trailing edge which provides great longitudinal-dynamic stability, exhausts the hot air from the engine compartment and, no less important, communicates to the pursuer in the video game that a Bugatti is getting away from him.

“We wanted to create a project as realistic as possible for our fans and put a real Bugatti in the virtual world of the PlayStation video game franchise,” explained Frank Heyl, the head of Exterior Design for Production Development at Bugatti. “Every design characteristic is defined by its function. Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo is the perfect symbiosis of engineering and aesthetics.”

Just as in the exterior design, no concessions were made in the design of the car’s interior. “This is an uncompromising race car,” emphasised Etienne Salome, the head of Interior Design at Bugatti. The interior is designed to meet racing requirements. All indicators, displays and controls are located where a race-car driver expects them – easy to read and easy to reach.

“We wanted to develop a virtual race car for our fans which is a genuine Bugatti down to the last detail and radiates the unrestricted values of the brand,” the designers said. “We hope that the gamers will have just as much fun racing the car as we did in developing it.”

The Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo show car will be displayed from 17–27 September 2015 at the Bugatti exhibit in hall 3.0 of the IAA grounds in Frankfurt am Main.

Fuel consumption and emissions

  • Bolide: Not subject to Directive 1999/94/EC, as it is a racing vehicle not intended for use on public roads.

  • Centodieci: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 40.3 / medium phase 22.2 / high phase 17.9 / extra high phase 17.1 / combined 21.5; CO2 emissions combined, g / km: NA; efficiency class: G

  • Chiron: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 44.6 / medium phase 24.8 / high phase 21.3 / extra high phase 21.6 / combined 25.2; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 572; efficiency class: G

  • Chiron Profilée: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 44.6 / medium phase 24.8 / high phase 21.3 / extra high phase 21.6 / combined 25.2; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 572; efficiency class: G

    • Chiron Pur Sport: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 44.6 / medium phase 24.8 / high phase 21.3 / extra high phase 21.6 / combined 25.2; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 572; efficiency class: G

    • Chiron Sport: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 44.6 / medium phase 24.8 / high phase 21.3 / extra high phase 21.6 / combined 25.2; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 572; efficiency class: G

    • Chiron Super Sport: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 40.3 / medium phase 22.2 / high phase 17.9 / extra high phase 17.1 / combined 21.5; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 487; efficiency class: G

    • Chiron Super Sport 300+: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 40.3 / medium phase 22.2 / high phase 17.9 / extra high phase 17.1 / combined 21.5; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 487; efficiency class: G

    • Divo: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 43.3 / medium phase 22.2 / high phase 18.0 / extra high phase 18.3 / combined 22.3; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 506; efficiency class: G

    • La Voiture Noire: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 43.3 / medium phase 22.2 / high phase 18.0 / extra high phase 18.3 / combined 22.3; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 506; efficiency class: G

      • Tourbillon: This model is currently not subject to directive 1999/94/EC, as type approval has not yet been granted.

      • W16 Mistral: WLTP fuel consumption, l/100 km: low phase 40.7 / medium phase 21.9 / high phase 18.3 / extra high phase 17.6 / combined 21.8; CO2 emissions combined, g/km: 495; efficiency class: G

        Bugatti

        The specified fuel consumption and emission data have been determined according to the measurement procedures prescribed by law.

        Further information on official fuel consumption figures and the official specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the “Guide on the fuel economy, CO2 emissions and power consumption of new passenger car models”, which is available free of charge at all sales dealerships and from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, D-73760 Ostfildern, Germany and at www.dat.de.

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