The last Chiron. And perhaps the most controversial. We’ll come on to that, but in the meantime, dit bonjour to the Bugatti Chiron Profilée.
It’s a one-off, based on the Pur Sport. That car you might remember was the lightest, most track-focused Chiron. It wore magnesium wheels, shorter gear ratios that improved sprinting ability (2.3secs to 100kph, stat fans!), and a giant six foot wide rear wing.
But Bugatti’s customers (what a demanding bunch they are) wanted more. They asked for a car that combined the dynamic appeal of the Pur Sport, with the more muted aesthetics of the ‘lesser’ Chirons. And so the Profilée was born.
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In place of the raised full width wing comes an integrated spoiler that still manages to develop 80% of the Pur Sport’s downforce. And do so more efficiently. While the Pur Sport’s top speed was 351kph, the Profilée is capable of 380kph. The wing serves a double purpose, not only delivering downforce with its top surface, but evacuating hot air from the underside.
At the front Profilée gains wider air inlets, a larger Bugatti horseshoe grille to aid radiator cooling, and a revised front splitter. The chassis has been adjusted, putting its overall set-up between Sport and Pur Sport. The springs are 10% stiffer than the Sport and the rear axle gains 50% more negative camber. The aim is better grip with no loss of comfort.
Of course, it comes with the Pur Sport’s full ticket 1500PS/1479hp quad turbo W16 powertrain. What will Bugatti do for an encore if this is its last outing?
Now, the controversy. Here’s Bugatti CEO Christophe Piochon: “We were surprised that we sold all of the Pur Sports. We expected to sell fewer and then we would build maybe 30 Profilées that would complete the production run of 500 Chirons.” However, 60 Pur Sports filled the strictly limited build slots—done, we assume, to retain residual values. So the Profilée now joins the Divo, Centodiec,i and La Voiture Noire as a one-off.
Which means every owner who fancied a Profilée now can’t have one—unless they head to the Louvre art gallery in Paris on 1 February, where the one-and-only Profilée will be auctioned off, with part of the proceeds going to charity. So that’s a bunch of potential customers, denied the car of their dreams, now getting into a competitive bidding frenzy. How much is that going to fetch? And how upset are those that miss out going to be?
Some more details: the car is named after the Type 46 Profilée, a fastback streamliner from 1931, and finished in a unique shade called Argent Atlantique, developed for this car. The lower surfaces are exposed carbon fiber, tinted blue, and the wheels are unique to this car too. And don’t forget that everything for this one-off has to go through the full suite of development and engineering tests. Including the woven interior, made from over 2.5km of leather strips.
So this is it, not the last Chiron to be built, but the last model to be announced. The question is: what’s next? What comes after the Chiron? Next year, we hope to find out. Before then, care to take a guess of what this will reach at auction?
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
