Columnist Sophie Kruse looks at the specs of the new hypercar that was unveiled last week.
I had great intentions of writing a different column this week, but I was too excited about the unveiling of the new Bugatti Chiron that I couldn’t resist writing about it. The car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last week and is a feat in engineering (and technology, because these go hand in hand when it comes to cars).
The beast boasts an 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine with 1,479 brake horsepower and 1,180 pounds of torque. There’s a speed cap on the car at 261 miles per hour, so it’s reasonable to expect the actual top speed is a lot larger.
The 0-62 mph time is less than 2.5 seconds, the 0-124 mph time is less than 6.5 seconds and the 0-186 mph time is less than 13.6 seconds.
If the driver floored the vehicle, the 22-gallon fuel tank would drain in nine minutes. According to BBC’s Top Gear, “that means it could probably burn through £100 of super unleaded faster than you can literally burn that amount of money in cash.”
The company is only producing 500 of these cars, and they cost around $2.5 million each. It’s not even considered a supercar — it’s a hypercar. The Chiron is the successor of the Veyron (which compares with 1,183 bhp and 1,106 pounds of torque).
“From every side of the car: rear-view, side-view and front-view, the technical necessity for more dynamic driving performance, more cooling performance, more engine performance sets of stylistic strategy for the car,” Achim Anscheidt, design director for Bugatti, said.
Even if you’re not into cars, I’m willing to bet you still can comprehend exactly how much of an engineering and tech feat this car is (it’s also a great looking vehicle). If you’re trying to do a comparison, check out the specs on the vehicle you drive and just imagine — the Chiron is 1,314 bhp higher than my car.
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I’m continually impressed with even the smallest innovations that I have in my base vehicle — like a intuitive Bluetooth system — so looking at beasts like the Chiron blow my mind. The amount of innovation that has gone into this vehicle is amazing.
There still aren’t any videos released of the Chiron on the track, but I’m looking forward to seeing more about this hypercar and seeing it show all that power.
Sophie Kruse is a senior studying journalism. What do you think about the Chiron? Email her at sk139011@ohio.edu.
