The new Bugatti has been revealed.
From CNN:
Bugatti Chiron: Meet the next ‘world’s fastest supercar’ [In Greek mythology Chiron was a centaur with a gift for healing. He eventually gave up immortality and was placed by the gods in the heavens as the constellation Centaurus. BTW… be sure to read Michael O’Brien’s Journey to Alpha Centauri]
Bugatti unveiled a new high-performance supercar at the Geneva Motor Show on Monday.
The French car maker currently produces only four models — all variations of the famed Bugatti Veyron. The Veyron was introduced in 2005 and the “Veyron 16.4 Super Sport” was named the world’s fastest production car by the Guiness Book of World Records in 2013.
But the Veyron era is about to end.
Bugatti says that the new generation, the Chiron, will be a “completely new development.” According to the car maker, it’ll be faster, more powerful and even more expensive, with a base price of €2.4 million ($2.6 million).
“It is part of human nature to cross boundaries and set new records,” Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. President Wolfgang Dürheimer said in a statement. “This striving is also our driving force at Bugatti. The Chiron is the result of our efforts to make the best even better.”
The new model will have 1,500 HP to work with, which is 300 HP more than the record-setting Veyron. The Chiron’s top speed remains to be seen, but it will be capped at 420 km/h (260 mph) for road use. [Capped?!?]
Bugatti — which is part of Volkswagen — will make just 500 of the first Chiron series, and a third of them have already been sold. The company began giving private presentations of the car to “select customers” last fall, and will deliver the new cars this fall.
Maybe the price will drop on a used Veyron?
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I know who I’d have voted for to replace one of the presenters on the UK Top Gear. :)
Watch Fr. Z run for a record on the Nordschleife while performing a road test…things you’d really really want to see.
1/3 have already been sold? Looks like the Rubrician fleet is getting an upgrade!
They are planning to open her up on the VW test track outside Wolfsburg, Germany (readers might recall the Top Gear guys putting the Veyron through her paces on this track) and expecting to break the 270mph barrier.
Wasn’t Chiron the (only) wise and sagacious of the Centaurs, killed by Hercules when the Centaur ‘occupy’ movement crashed a party, and Hercules, that strongman of bad impulse control, accidentally killed him? For his crime, his ‘penance’ was the 12 labours. His defense, (the Koine Greek of which I do not know), availed him not, and gave us the Greek version of that joke,(nowadays known as, “Do you know how to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans”), to wit, “Do you know how to make the Gods laugh? Ask them, “At this point, what difference does it make”. The centaur in the constellation Sagitarius is Chiron.
Partly. The 12 labours were because Hercules had killed his wife and children, before. (In a rage inflicted by his enemy Hera, the authors note for excuse. They do not report such excuse, though, when he killed his music-teacher after suffering a telling-off.)
Hercules did accidentally poison Chiron with a poisonous dart – this time, not in a rage, but by an actual accident, at least according to the authors -. That, however did not kill him (as he was immortal), but it caused him heavy unending pain. (This was because he had, before, poisoned his darts in Hydra’s poison, because, apparently, being a superhero and overpowering all your enemies isn’t enough – you have to inflict mortal, incurable wounds with every dart) Chiron afterwards gave up his life as a ransom for the liberation of Prometheus.
Well… as to the car… they named her after a centaur, at least sort of a horse, which was poisoned and died, and before was particularly noted for his wisdom and medicinal knowledge, but not really for his beauty or speed (that would be Pegasus). Fine.
At least a better mythological choice than the one of the mother-company on the other Rhine-side… you know, the crash-pilot who rode his fathers sun-chariot despite warnings and completely messed it up.
Love the license plate!
Had an opportunity to talk in person with James May about that run in the Veyron…he opined that, all things being equal, it was 1) a blast (he was quite ‘chuffed’, as he put it), and 2) it was the most intense drive he’d ever had, road trips across the desert and through the Amazon notwithstanding.
In the Mad Max world of the future, our intrepid Fr. Z may require an up-armored Bugatti with a Motu 007 license plate. And these additional features:
– Oil slick deployable from the rear bumper. ‘Cause sometimes the Nuns on the Bus have road rage on their minds.
– Roof-mounted loudspeakers for broadcasting Gregorian chant when cruisin’ past the offices of the Fishwrap.
– Mud flaps. “GO TO” on the left, “CONFESSION” on the right.
– Passenger ejection seat. Voice-activated by the phrases “Sister Moon” or “Z-man, the earth is my religion!”
– Biretta dispensers fore and aft.
– Holy Water spritzers when a passenger enthuses about the World Council of Churches. ‘Cause sometimes a little ecumenism is more than enough.
– A gun rack.
– Finally, Mystic Monk coffee on tap in the glove compartment.
I must admit that I marvel over cars. I see them as a fantastic art; a demonstration of human ability.
Many times in my life, I have had to check this passion, materialistic as it is. Never something so out of my price range as a Bugatti – but the odd M3, or even decade old V12 Vantage…
Help me to find the center, Lord.
Imrahil, you are correct. My memory was incorrect. Thanks.
Dear Kerry, thanks.
In fairness: I knew the story with Chiron and was quite sure that this was not the reason for the twelve labours (though I had forgotten there was any expiatory reason for the twelve labours), and then looked up the rest.
Imrahil,
I’m always amused when people refer to Icarus in ways that are obviously not meant to consider that he was the one who flew too high…
I’m afraid the mythological derivation of the name is incorrect. The derivation of the name is from the Monegasque F1 racing driver Louis Chiron. The Veyron was similarly named for a racing driver, Pierre Veyron.