BUGATTI News

Are we headed for a world where petrol is only the fuel of the rich, powering their hypercars and luxury super SUVs? It certainly appears that way. And I don’t like it…This week the car world achieved a major milestone - the average global price of electric vehicles fell below that of hybrids for the first time. And before too long we’ll see the average price of EVs drop lower than the price of petrol cars.There’s nothing wrong with that - we’re watching the evolution of the motor car, and a change in buying habits and taste in real time.What could supercharge this process and fundamentally change what fuel we use, however, is the volatility of petrol prices which have spiked dramatically due to the conflict in the Middle East. Covering car news each day is revealing a trend and I’m not too sure I like it. High-performance and luxury car brands are doubling down on their fossil fuel focus, while mainstream brands are pushing the limits to make the most affordable electric cars.At the start of this year BMW announced it would reverse its decision to pivot away from petrol and return to producing V8 and V12 units due to their customer demands.Rival brand Mercedes-Benz did the same thing and scrapped its plan to go completely electric by 2030 and dived back into making V8s.Porsche, too, changed its mind after receiving a walloping from customers who made it very clear that Porsche to them meant power from petrol, not power from the electricity grid.Lamborghini also did an about face on EVs at the start of this year and went back to petrol, adding a hybrid system but only to make more mumbo.Yep, Lamborghini replaced its V10 Huracan which made 470kW with the V8 Temerario which makes 588kW plus another 220kW from its electric motors.Then there’s the mysterious case of Ferrari giving us the breathtaking 12Cilindri with yes a V12, which was closely followed by the even more gorgeous V8 Amalfi, before giving us the all-electric Luce which hurts to look at directly. It’s as if the brand was sending us some kind of message coded in ugliness about being asked to do something against its will. Of course the super high end brands appear completely unconcerned by prohibitively high petrol prices affecting sales or the climate.Bugatti announced an end to the reign of its enormous 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engines in its cars like the Veyron and Chiron, but before we could even think it was going green trumpeted in almost the same breath that it was doing V16s instead.Which it did with its current Tourbillon hypercar that houses a monstrous 8.3-litre V16 engine. Yes it has a hybrid system with electric motors but it’s not to save fuel, it’s to make more power. If you were to ask bespoke high performance vehicle maker Hennessey if it had electric cars the response would almost certainly be, “never heard of her." The brand just unveiled its US spy plane-inspired Blackbird hypercar with a naturally aspirated V8 and positioned it as the kind of vehicle that allows drivers to cover 1300km a day.Just days ago Aston Martin ran into the room boasting it was delaying its EV plans because it had found a loop hole which meant it could keep making V12s. The loop hole being that the brand had to keep V12 sales under 1000 a year.Low volume sales aren’t a worry for brands like these - not when an Aston Martin Vanquish costs more than $700,000. And unlike you and me, that's not the owner's only car… it joins a garage with five other cars in it… at least. Yes we’re talking millions of dollars and all petrol-powered.Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to work out how we can get into an electric car for less than $40,000 because chaotic fuel prices are hurting us and we’re worried about the future resale value of petrol cars. I’m also highly concerned about the air that my children breathe and the thought of having a car powered by burning oil that just to drives to shops, school and work sounds more and more preposterous to me. It’s like having kerosene lanterns in every room of your house rather than light bulbsTo be completely clear, though, I love petrol performance cars and detest electric performance ones. Petrol has a place.My fear is that petrol’s happy place in performance cars will eventually exclude me as the fuel becomes more expensive, rarer and the food of exotic beasts I can’t afford.So what’s left? There’s the Cupra Leon VZx, Ford Mustang, Honda Civic Type R and Prelude, Hyundai i30N, Mazda MX-5, Nissan Z, Subaru WRX, Toyota GR Yaris and GR Corolla and VW Golf R.Watch these models closely, because they are the final 'affordable' petrol performance cars and they are all now endangered.    

China, or more specifically BYD, has done it and broken the production car speed record set by Bugatti.

If we offered you a free Ferrari or free Toyota which would you take?

Bugatti is looking to develop a production car capable of hitting 500km/h and its new V16 powered Tourbillon could be the hypercar to do it — it’s just the tyres they need to get right according to the brand’s boss.

The new Bugatti Tourbillon might be the world’s wildest car.It’s the evolution of the famous Veyron supercar of 20 years ago and the replacement for the Chiron.The Tourbillon is the brainchild of Mate Rimac, the man who willed into existence his own electric supercar brand before it merged with Bugatti.It brings some seriously impressive numbers that none can match.Under the bonnet is a beefy naturally-aspirated 8.3-litre V16 petrol engine that revs up to a heady 9000pm and makes a whopping 735kW and 900Nm.But wait there’s more …The Tourbillon pairs the monster engine with three electric motors and a sizeable 25kWh battery for a combined power output of 1324kW, or about the same as 12 Toyota Corollas.It is also about 150kW more than the Chiron could muster from its quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 engine.It’s a plug-in hybrid and can be driven up to 60km on pure electric power.Bugatti claims the Tourbillon can sprint from 0-100km/h in a neck-snapping 2.0 seconds and can go to 200km/h in under five seconds.That kind of performance doesn’t come cheap with a circa-$6m starting point. In Australia if you add 33 per cent luxury car tax, five per cent import duty and 10 per cent GST you won’t have much change left from $9m.Even if you have that kind of cash to splash there is no guarantee you’ll be able to secure one.Bugatti is making just 250 examples and you’ll need to have had a few Bugattis or Rimacs in your garage previously.The body is sculptured and reinforced so it can achieve a top speed of more than 400km/h.The level of engineering is a big part of what you are paying for.Step inside and the wow factor keeps coming with a very analogue experience. The car’s dials were produced by a Swiss watchmaker. The gauges are made of materials such as titanium and sapphire. The gauges are fixed to the steering wheel so they are always in full sight regardless of seating position.There is a small digital multimedia screen but it is hidden in the dashboard that only deploys if the driver wants it.

When Rimac took over the Bugatti brand from Volkswagen, there were speculative whispers that Bugatti’s future was to be electric - but that's not the case.

We all thought 2020 was tough until 2021 reared its ugly head, taking the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic to the next level. But as it turns out, the very top of the new-vehicle market was seemingly immune from the obvious challenges, with sales records tumbling

When news came through that the Lincoln Navigator, a large American luxury SUV, would soon be available in Australia, we started thinking… what other foreign badges could we see on local roads?In the case of the Lincoln, the 336kW/691Nm SUV is imported and converted to right-hand-drive by International Motor Cars, the same mob that remanufactures the Cadillac Escalade and Dodge Challenger for Australia.This practice is a costly affair, with the Lincoln Navigator Black Label expected to check in from $274,900 plus on-road costs. For context, the same model in left-hand-drive guise costs $US97,135 ($A$153,961) in the States.Despite the high price, the business case may very well stack up, as a particular group of buyers seem willing to pay a premium for the exclusivity that only a vehicle like this can deliver.Could other car brands make it in Australia's competitive market? These are the ones we'd like to see Down Under.Acura was established in the United States in 1986, and currently offers a range of sedans and SUVs, as well as the resurrected NSX sports car. Its TLX performance sedan is available with a 216kW V6 engine matched with a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, variable valve timing (i-VTEC) and a nine-speed automatic transmission. The Acura RDX crossover SUV could also be a good fit for Australia, with its premium looks and technology loaded cabin.While the Honda MDX seven-seater was discontinued for Australia in 2007, the nameplate lives on with Acura. Pitched as a premium three-row offering, the Acura MDX plays against the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE.Renault’s budget subsidiary Dacia could also have a place in Australia, as the Romanian carmaker plans to launch “Europe’s most affordable all-electric vehicle” in 2021.Renault has also expressed interest in importing the Dacia Duster-based Oroch dual-cab pick-up.Since its release in 2010, the Duster has been a smash hit overseas, selling in more than 100 countries with a number of engine and drivetrain configurations. The Duster even found a home at the Vatican as the latest Popemobile.With its quirky looks and proven reliability, the Duster could be positioned as a cheaper alternative to the Nissan Qashqai and Mitsubishi ASX, and a pick-up version would certainly garner interest in local showrooms.Volkswagen subsidiary SEAT (pronounced say-art) sold vehicles in Australia from 1995 to 1999, albeit with limited success. It is unlikely that SEAT will make a return to local shores as similar VW sub-brand Skoda is considered the more viable subsidiary.Earlier this year, SEAT revealed its fourth-generation Leon small car, which is based on the same platform as the upcoming Volkswagen Golf 8, and comes in both hatch and wagon body styles.The Leon sports a sleek exterior design and a minimalist cabin, and notably, is available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.Its stylish SUVs, such as the Tarraco and Ateca, have also proven popualr in the past.You would be excused for not knowing much about this brand, but in fact Hongqi is China's oldest passenger car manufacturer.The uptake of Chinese cars has been slow in Australia, but with rapid technological improvements in recent years, brands like Haval, MG and LDV have found success on Aussie roads.While the afformentioned carmakers focus on the budget side of the market, Hongqi produces high-end luxury vehicles. As it happens, the Hongqi L5 luxury sedan is credited as the most expensive Chinese-made car ever released.The long and low L5 is often used to chauffeur high-ranking government officials, and is powered by either a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 or a 6.0-litre naturally aspirated V12.Other models in the Hongqi range are based on well-known nameplates, like the Mazda6-based H5 sedan, and the Audi Q5-based HS7 midsize SUV.French hypercar specialist Bugatti may not have a local sales agent, but in this world, money talks.Bugatti's latest model, the Chiron, starts at a base price of around $US3,800,000 ($A5,900,000), and that number gets significantly larger as you add import duties, taxes and freight costs.The Chiron does not comply with Australian design rules, although it's possible that a limited number of units could be brought in as special interest vehicles.Using an 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine, delivering 1119kW and 1600Nm, the Chiron is easily one of the fastest production cars in the world, if not the fastest.With a number of once-popular compact cars being discontinued in Australia, like the Honda Jazz and Hyundai Accent, and others moving more upmarket, there could be an opportunity for a new type of budget-oriented city car.Indian company Tata Motor Cars builds a range of sleek and efficient vehicles in right-hand-drive, but few would pass Australia's much stricter safety standards.But there is hope, as Tata's Altroz hatchback managed to achieve a five star Global NCAP safety rating ahead of its launch this year.Tata has plans for at least two new electrified models as well as a new Gravitas seven-seat SUV to rival the likes of the Mahindra XUV500.

It costs $13m and has a face only a mother could love - meet the Bugatti Centodici.

Bugatti has come up with a farewell gift that’s just a little bit more special than a gold watch; a one-off, $25 million Chiron to be named after, and given to, former Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech.According to a report in TheSupercarBlog, the one-of-a-kind hypercar, which will be on the brand’s stand at the Geneva Motor Show next month, has been built for Piech as a very special thank you for his role in bringing VW and Bugatti together, back in 1998.The Piech will no doubt be based on a Chiron and powered by an even more ridiculous version of the engine that is often called his brainchild, the 8.0-litre W16.And let’s face it, anyone who comes up with the idea of jamming two V8s together to form one engine, and sets the ambitious goal of building a road car capable of 300mph (483km/h) deserves some kind of recognition.It has also been speculated that it might look completely different, perhaps a rebodied version of the Chiron, similar to the Bugatti Divo that was shown at Pebble Beach last year.Bugatti will be marking its 110th year of operation at Geneva this year and will also unveil a special-edition 110Ans Bugatti, based on the Chiron Sport.There should be around 20 of those for sale, whereas Piech’s car, notionally valued at $25 million but effectively priceless, will not be, at any price.