2006 Bugatti Veyron EB-16.4

Jan 22

Written By Katelyn McSherry

First production car with 1000 HP, 250+ MPH top speed. Is it super?

The Bugatti Veyron is the first production automobile in history to offer 1000 horsepower and the first production vehicle to surpass the 250 MPH threshold. This 2006 Bugatti Veyron EB-16.4 is presented in two-tone gray with a gray leather interior. A W-16 cylinder quad turbocharged engine carries the vehicle to an astounding 253mph top speed with a 0-60mph time of only 2.46 seconds. The engine resembles 2 V-8 powerplants joined together side-by-side into 4-cylinder banks with each cylinder having 4 valves for a total of 64 valves.

Named for famed Bugatti engineer, test driver, and Grand Prix Racer of the 1930’s Pierre Veyron, the 2005 launch of the Veyron was the product of nearly 6 years of development, concept cars, design changes and component engineering. It was the first Bugatti production vehicle following the acquisition of the badging and naming rights by the Volkswagen group and the first Bugatti available to the public since the EB-110 was built under previous ownership in 1995. Opting to build the Veyron in Bugatti’s ancestral home in Molsheim, France, in the Alsace region, Bugatti tapped Harmut Warkuss to lead the design team with Slovakian Jozef Kaben penning the body lines. Opting for sumptuous curves with an eye towards peak aerodynamic efficiency, the Veyron differed greatly from wedge-shaped bodies that were synonymous with high-speed super cars of the late 1990’s.

Very few items on the Veyron could be found in other vehicles of the day. To accommodate the high-speed capacity of the Veyron, only special Michelin PAX tires are used at a cost of $25,000 per set plus a $70,000 installation fee performed only in France. Its brakes feature 8 piston calipers on the front with 6 piston rears gripping carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide discs all around. Bugatti claims the car could be slowed from its top speed of 250mph to a complete stop in less than 10 seconds but using nearly 1/3 mile to do so.

To achieve such an extreme measure of performance, advanced telemetry and aerodynamics were needed to keep the Veyron from becoming an airborne projectile at top speeds. Multiple electronic controls aid downforce above 220 kph (140mph) and deploys spoilers and a rear wing to keep the Veyron grounded. But if the driver wishes to explore the top range of speed, a special Top Speed option can be chosen while at rest, at which time the driver and car goes through a checklist to make sure every system is ready for maximum performance. Automatically, the spoiler and front air inlets close thus reducing drag so the car can be pushed to the limit.

While expectations of such a high-performance vehicle would hint at an interior more akin to a race car than a luxury car, Bugatti owners are treated to rich padded leather seats and highly polished stylized driver controls that are esthetically more Rolls Royce than Ferrari. All of this luxurious technology combined with limited availability drove initial purchase prices easily into 7 figure territory, but Bugatti would claim that the build cost of each vehicle was easily 5 times its selling price.