Power
The MASTERS Car Report: Bugatti Chiron Super Sport
A Bugatti is seen by many in the car world as the ultimate in car design. Not only in the past, when Ettore Bugatti handed over cars to the Molsheim castle rich and famous, but also after the renaissance by Volkswagen in 1998. And so in 2022 cars will also be handed over to rich and famous earthlings from the same castle in Monsheim. Only the cars themselves have changed a bit. Car Master Erik Kouwenhoven went to investigate. A ride in the Bugatti…Text: Erik Kouwenhoven
Online editor: Mical Joseph “Anyone who arrives in a helicopter to buy or pick up their new Bugatti does not have to search long. A larger-than-life Bugatti logo has been painted on the roof of the factory in a lovely town in the French Alsace. After you are picked up from the helipad by a high-heeled hostess, they guide you to a large lounge, where butler Eric is ready to protect you from dehydration. There is a huge screen where you can configure your car, but not before you have had a tour of the castle and some workshops. One of those workshops is the studio. Normal people would call this a factory, but in fact the assembly hall looks more like a workplace for extravagant artists than a car factory. There is no robot or conveyor belt to be seen and the usual noise is also missing. We do see a lot of people busy around different cars. In fact, there are only three workplaces where cars are assembled at the same time. Everything around it are finishing and checking areas. Because no Bugatti leaves the house before the car has been meticulously examined by a large number of extremely meticulous inspectors.”
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“That's okay, because a little Bugatti nowadays can easily cost around four million. Take the Chiron Super Sport that we are going out with today: it costs about 3,4 million excluding taxes. This means that in terms of BPM and VAT, there will soon be an additional million and we haven't even looked at the options list yet. And then there is another setback: Bugatti is currently not selling any cars, because the entire production of this model is sold out. Journalists are also out of luck, because Bugatti - given its low production - does not have its own press cars. Fortunately, there are occasionally customers who make their cars available as a press car. This not only increases the price for the new owner (we don't understand why), it has the additional advantage that photos of his car are published in all car magazines worldwide. And let there be such an owner of a fresh Chiron Super Sport who is not afraid to lend his prized possession to a number of complete strangers, who are generally not afraid to keep going for a while. However, a guard will come along, in the form of Bugatti test driver and former Le Mans winner Andy Wallace. Well, guard… He mainly sits next to you to ensure that you can optimally experience all the sensations of the 1600 hp Super Sport.”
Kalashnikov
“We quickly feel sorry for the owner of this car when we venture out for a bit spirited driving. On a regional road, at Andy's instruction, I press the accelerator as far as I dare, after which the car shoots away with a violence that once again makes my blood flow roil. When the trees to the left and right of the road merge into a green blur and the bend that was very far away two seconds ago quickly approaches, I step on the brake pedal. The Bugatti doesn't like that very much, which the bottom of the front makes clear by producing a light scraping sound. Nothing special if something like this happens to you in a normal car, but this is a Bugatti, a part of which can easily cost around thirty grand. Andy says it won't hurt, but we can almost hear him cringe. That will probably be another entry in his logbook, which he always carries with him and in which every kilometer with the Bugatti is meticulously accounted for. It seems as if he has the most beautiful job in the world as a Bugatti test driver, but we want you to put the wheel in the hands of completely unknown billionaires who have often become rich a little too quickly.”
Car spotters
“If you buy a Bugatti, you are generally not introverted and that is a good thing. Because everywhere you drive, the world comes to a standstill. Conversations stop, pedestrians stop and painters let their brushes hang motionless in the air. The car attracts all the attention like a magnet. That starts when you drive out of the factory gate and the first three car spotters have already photographed your car. In villages a little further away from Molsheim, people almost fall off their mopeds when they see the blue car approaching and motorists stop in the middle of the street to take in all the impressions of the car. This is no different in the Netherlands, a Bugatti owner once told a business magazine Parameters. The man in question had immediately sold the car after an hour's drive, after he was almost surrounded on the A10 ring road by shouting young people who, half hanging out of the window, performed life-threatening antics in order to photograph the car as best as possible.”
Deep pockets
“Bugatti was revived in 1998 by then VW CEO Ferdinand Piëch, after it had been unsuccessfully resuscitated by an Italian supplier in the 110s. After a handful of models with the EBXNUMX name were produced, Bugatti went bankrupt. Piëch managed to successfully restart the company thanks to the deep pockets of parent Volkswagen, although the company suffered considerable losses in the first years. Those days are far behind us, partly because Bugatti discovered that price was hardly an issue. Because although the amounts of new models are steadily increasing, Bugatti will manage to sell out the entire available production for the coming years.”
MASTERS MAGAZINE
Want to read the entire interview? In the summer edition of MASTERS an interview with Sven Kramer, a driving impression of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport and a study into the Effect of Max. But above all, it features people who bring light to the darkness. Such as Henk Jan Beltman, who took over Tony's Chocolonely because with a company you can make the world a more beautiful place. Chef Emile van der Staak, who has the ambition to change our food culture and therefore cooks with plants and vegetables that he obtains from the food forest. Designer Nienke Hoogvliet, who has introduced natural seaweed paint as an alternative to harmful textile paint. And Anna Nooshin, who criticizes the current social media culture of pretty pictures. In her documentary she also shares the less beautiful aspects of her life. All people who ask questions, hold up mirrors, take steps. Steps towards a healthier world and more understanding society.
