French ultra-luxury carmaker Bugatti unveiled here the world’s fastest and most expensive street-legal super car — the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport is more than three times costlier than its closest competitors.
With prices for the open-top variant starting at Rs. 160 million (US$ 3.6 million), Bugatti — part of the Volkswagen Group — expects to do brisk business from a rising class of ultra-rich individuals in the country.
At present, the most expensive cars in the Indian market — such as the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Bentley Mulsanne and the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG — are priced around Rs. 50 million. The market size for luxury sports cars is estimated at 350 units a year and growing at 25 per cent.
Mr. Julius Kruta, Head of Tradition, Bugatti Automobiles SAS, said that for the typical wealthy customer, the choice is not between sports cars, but “between a helicopter, a Picasso painting or a Wally yacht.”The closed-top version will also be unveiled by next year he said.
“Many Indians are among the richest in the world and we already have some Indian customers in the UK. We’ve launched it here because this is a healthy growing economy and people will get even richer in the future,” he added.
About 150 units of this hand-built sports car will be made in a limited production run, of which 40 have already found homes worldwide. The company’s facility at Molsheim, France, can make about 70 cars a year.
The Veyron will be distributed by Exclusive Motors in India, which also handles other Volkswagen luxury brands such as Lamborghini and Bentley. Declining to mention how many cars have been booked in the country, Mr. Satya Bagla, Managing Director, Exclusive Motors, said that the first delivery would take place in eight months.
A pinnacle of technological achievement in the auto industry, the Veyron uses titanium, carbon fibre and aircraft grade aluminium to keep weight low and give its body strength and rigidity. With two V8 engines combined in an 8-litre W16 configuration, and four turbochargers giving the car 1001 PS of power, the Veyron can touch a top speed of 407 kmph. It can do 0-100 kmph in 2.7 seconds.