New Bugatti 16 C Galibier Concept

The most exclusive, elegant, and powerful four door Automobile in the World

Molsheim, Elsass, 14 September, 2009 – As the climax of its centenary celebration ceremonies, Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. presented customers and opinion-makers with the Bugatti 16 C Galibier concept, intended to be the most exclusive, elegant, and powerful four door automobile in the world last weekend in Molsheim. At the historic site where Ettore Bugatti once laid the cornerstone of his company, Bugatti’s current president, Dr. Ing. Franz-Josef Paefgen emphasised that the Galibier is one of several concept studies with which the company is considering for the future of the Bugatti marque.

Art – Forme – Technique: those are the brand values to which Ettore Bugatti and his son Jean oriented themselves in order to develop even more powerful engines and even more noble body designs for each new model, which were without equal in quality, handling, speed and elegance. In the process, they experimented again and again without compromise with new materials; thus was Bugatti one of the first manufacturers to use aluminium parts for bodies, engine blocks and wheels.

Art – Forme – Technique are also the brand values to which the design and engineering team of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. oriented themselves in the development of the Galibier. With this new four-door concept car, Bugatti assumes anew a leading role in the use of new material combinations. Thus the body is constructed of handmade carbon fibre parts coloured dark blue so that, when illuminated, the woven structure shimmers through strikingly. Carbon fibre not only possesses unusually great rigidity but is also especially light. The wings and doors are out of polished aluminium.

The Galibier’s design masters the challenge of uniting sportiness with the comfort and elegance of a modern four-door saloon. The basic architecture picks up on the torpedo-like character of the Type 35, which was already revived in the Veyron, and reinterprets it. With the typical Bugatti radiator grille, big round LED headlights and the clamshell running the length of the vehicle which became synonymous with the brand identity under Jean Bugatti in the Type 57, this car transports the Bugatti genes into the modern worldBeneath the bonnet, which folds back from both sides, there resides a 16-cylinder, 8-litre engine with twostage supercharging. What makes this engine special is that it was developed as a flex-fuel engine and can optional be run on ethanol. Four-wheel drive, specially developed ceramic brakes and a new suspension design enable the agile, always-sure handling of a saloon of this size.

The interior reflects the elemental design of the exterior. The dash panel has been reduced to the essential; two centrally located main instruments keep even the rear passengers constantly informed of the actual speed and previous performance. Parmigiani, the Swiss maker of fine watches, created the removable Reverso Tourbillon clock for the Galibier, which may be worn on the wrist thanks to a cleverly designed leather strap.

“Galibier” is not just the name of one of the most difficult alpine passes along the Tour de France but, in its time, was a version of the four door Type 57 unequalled in sportiness and elegance.

The Hyper Cars For The Hyper Rich

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Well, here we are, 2009 is almost finished and 2010 is almost here. When you have been alive for a short time you keep stopping to think about that, and that the year 2000 was a massive bench mark in time, in technology and in cars.

The most interesting things didn’t happen 9 years ago, it happened 4 years ago. Mainly when the Bugatti Veyron was introduced to the world. It  stopped everyone within a square mile owning the latest super car because they could blow their bonus on it. Super cars are not top of the mechanical food chain anymore, its hypercars. The Veyron gave birth to the million pound toy with more power than anything before and more exclusivity than before. Every other super car maker realised they could do exactly the same with a little consideration and a little hype. So they did. There was Lamborghini with the Reventon, then Pagani told everyone that there cars would cost a million pounds, then Koenigsegg said the same, then added some more to the price, then added some more. Aston Martin has just joined this craze with the One 77, now there is a hand full of cars costing about a 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 pounds., some nearing 2,000,000.

So what does this mean for super cars. Well it’s not all stupid money with prices plucked from the air, take the Nissan GTR, the new Mclaren and the everyday performance you can get from a hot hatch for 20 something grand. But on the other hand you have got the new Toyota Supra which goes by the name of the Lexus LFA costing 336k, looking at the stats it cannot do much more than the GTR, what does this extra money get you? Is it so you can tell everyone that you have a Lexus??? Not much of it makes sense to me, surely the correct way would be to pitch the new Lexus against the R8 or even the 458 Italia. Instead they have gone for the throat and see it as a rival to the Mclaren SLR, and im not sure about that. You see the Lexus looks a bit like a kitted up 1 to 1 scale radio controlled car with a modern interior and the SLR looks like a car that can do almost everything that you want a car to do including 200mph, and it does. Very well. Thats the difference. There is nothing new about the Lexus, maybe they have done it to just benefit the Lexus brand. If it’s purely performance focused then it’s just not crazy enough for this price tag. But it will sell, they say there customers will not be bothered about the cost, they will own every other super car as well. So it appears that super cars are for the super rich,  but hyper cars will be for the hyper rich, and this is a new league.