Bugatti Concept

In the elite luxury car world, Bugatti has been in the lime-light over the last decade because of the company's race car pedigree and the more recent world record breaking production supercar the Bugatti Veyron. Now the company is beginning a whole new chapter and starting to get the motoring world full of interest once again with an all new 1,000 horsepower four door saloon car. This time it will be a production car version which is based on the "Bugatti Galibier 16C" concept car (first seen in 2009), it is now planned to be called the "Bugatti Royale".

Bugatti was founded by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace. The company known for its racing pedigree enjoyed many great racing successes, especially in early Grand Prix motor racing, after winning the first ever Monaco Grand Prix. Bugatti's pinnacle of success was with the driver Jean-Pierre Wimille who won the "Le Mans 24 hours" twice (once in 1937 with Robert Benoist, and then again in 1939 with Pierre Veyron).

The company went into a slow decline after the death of "Ettore Bugatti" who died in 1947 and was eventually sold to the company Hispano-Suiza in 1963, since then the company has had various owners and little success as a brand. That was until in 1998 when the German car manufacturer "Volkswagen AG" purchased the rights to produce cars under the Bugatti marque, the famous historical car brand was again back in business and thanks the design and development of the "Veyron" elite sports car, Bugatti once again was back on the most wanted list and in the Veyron's case in the record books.

The Bugatti Veyron "Super Sport" version is still the fastest road-legal production car in the world, with a top speed of 431.07 km/h (267.85 mph), with ultra high standard of finish and detail, some think of it as a pure automotive work of art.

With all this in mind Bugatti wanted to go a step further and produce the four-door saloon car version called the "Royale", it will still be powered with the same unique "W16 engine" found in the Veyron. It is rumoured that it might only come with 2 turbo's (instead of the Veyron's usual four), but also features a linked electric motor, as in someway being a step towards being more environmentally ethical. The engine will run on Bio-ethanol so again this tick's an environmental box, even if it's a small one.

For anyone who is interested in the Bugatti Royale production which is due to start around the end of 2012 / beginning of 2013 won't have long to wait now (although the waiting list will have already started), as you can imagine this car won't come cheap; at around £850,000 or 1.4 million US dollars in today's currency exchange.