A Bugatti is regarded by many in the automotive world as the ultimate in automobiles. Not only in the past, when Ettore Bugatti handed cars to the rich and famous from a castle in Molsheim, 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 "Those who arrive in a helicopter to buy or pick up their new Bugatti don't have to look long. For on the roof of the factory in a charming little town in the French Alsace region is a larger-than-life Bugatti logo painted. After a high-heeled hostess picks you up from the helipad, they usher you into a large lounge, where butler Eric is on hand to keep you from dehydrating. There is a huge screen on which you can configure your car, but not before taking a tour of the castle and some workshops. One of those workshops is the workshop. Normal people would call this a factory, but indeed the assembly hall looks more like a workplace for extravagant artists than a car factory. There is no robot or assembly line in sight, and the usual noise is also absent. However, we do see many people working around various cars. In fact, there are only three workstations where cars are being assembled at the same time. Everything around them are finishing and checking areas. Because no Bugatti goes out the door before the car has been minutely examined by a large number of extremely finicky inspectors."
"You should, because a little Bugatti these days easily costs a million or four. Take the Chiron Super Sport we are going out with today: it costs about 3.4 million excluding taxes. That means that in terms of V.A.T. and value-added tax, another million is easily added, and we haven't even looked at the options list yet. And then there is another setback: right now Bugatti is not selling any cars, because the entire production of this model is sold out. Journalists are also out of luck, as Bugatti - given the low production - does not have its own press cars. Fortunately, there are occasional customers who make their cars available as press cars. Not only does this have a price-increasing effect for the new owner (we don't understand why), but it has the added advantage that photos of his car are published in all car magazines worldwide. And let there be just such an owner of a fresh Chiron Super Sport who is not afraid to lend his precious possession to some complete strangers, who, as a rule, are not afraid to stomp on for a while. A guard does go along, though, in the form of Bugatti test driver and former Le Mans winner Andy Wallace. Well, guard ... He's mainly sitting next to you to make sure you get to experience all the sensations of the 1600-hp Super Sport to the fullest."
"Pretty soon we feel sorry for the owner of this car as we venture out for a bit of spirited driving. On a regional road, at Andy's direction, I press the gas pedal as deeply as I dare, then the car shoots away with a violence that once again churns my bloodstream. As the trees to the left and right of the road merge into a green blur and the curve that was very far away two seconds ago quickly approaches, I hit the brake pedal. The Bugatti doesn't like that very much, which the underside of the front end clearly lets me know by emitting a slight scraping sound. Nothing unusual if something like that happens to you in an ordinary car, but this is a Bugatti, a part of which can cost as much as thirty grand or so. Andy says it won't hurt, but we can almost hear him cringe. That will probably be another note in his logbook, which he always carries with him and in which every mile with the Bugatti is meticulously accounted for. It seems like as a Bugatti test driver he has the most wonderful job in the world, but we'll give it your ear to put the wheel in the hands of complete strangers, often getting rich a little too quickly."
"If you buy a Bugatti, as a rule you are not introverted, and that's a good thing. Because everywhere you drive, the world comes to a standstill. Conversations stall, pedestrians stop and painters leave their brushes hanging motionless in the air. Like a magnet, the car attracts all attention to itself. It starts when you drive out of the factory gate and the first three carspotters have already photographed your car. In villages a little further away from Molsheim, people almost fall off their mopeds when they see the blue bolide approaching, and motorists stop in the middle of the street to take in all the car's impressions. In the Netherlands it is no different, as an owner of a Bugatti once told business magazine Quote. The man in question had sold the car after one hour of driving immediately, after he was on the ring road A10 almost enclosed by yelling young people who half hanging out of the window performed life-threatening antics to be able to photograph the car as well as possible."
"Bugatti was revived in 1998 by then VW chief Ferdinand Piëch, after it had already been unsuccessfully resuscitated in the 1980s by an Italian supply company. After a handful of models bearing the EB110 name were produced, Bugatti went bankrupt. Piëch did manage to keep the company going successfully thanks to the deep pockets of parent Volkswagen, albeit with considerable losses in the first few years. Those days are far behind us, not least because Bugatti discovered that price was actually hardly an issue. For although the amounts of new models are steadily rising, Bugatti manages to sell out the entire available production for the next few years."
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 an examination of Max's Effect. But above all, it features people who bring light into the darkness. Like Henk Jan Beltman, who took over Tony's Chocolonely because with a business 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 sourced from the food forest. Designer Nienke Hoogvliet, who has introduced natural seaweed paint as an alternative to harmful textile dyes. And Anna Nooshin, who denounces the current social media culture of pretty pictures. In her documentary, she also shares the less beautiful aspects of her life. All of them people who ask questions, present mirrors, make steps. Steps toward a healthier world and more understanding society.
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