It takes time to develop a hypercar, even when Bugatti takes their already impressive Chiron and wants to add a new derivative after production has started, it still takes a lot of development work, and that almost backfired seriously for the Bugatti engineers … while they were working on a Chiron Profilée, the entire production run of 500 units for the Chiron series sold out, before the new Profilée was ready to be released to customers … now what?
Initially, the idea was to put the Bugatti Chiron Profilée a notch above the magnificent Chiron Sport, but just below the even more impressive Chiron Pur Sport, but by the time the development gave the green light for the Chiron Profilée there were no more slots available to build it, so Bugatti came up with a really amazing solution: the Chiron Profilée was just too good to pass on, but they couldn’t start production of it either, so they completed a single unit of this car, completely finished the development of it, and finished it in a truly breathtaking combination on the exterior and interior.
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.” In the end a total of 60 Chiron Pur Sport were sold, which means the Chiron Profilée will remain a one-off, just like the La Voiture Noir! The Bugatti Chiron Profilée took her name from the Type 46 Profilée, a very streamlined classic from an era gone by a long time ago.
For this car that would be destined to be a one-off, Bugatti came up with a few very special details that would only be seen on the Chiron Profilée, like the shade on the body, called Argent Atlantique, uniquely developed just for the Chiron Profilée, the lower section of the car are adorned in bleu-tinted clear carbon fiber, and even the wheels are bespoke to this model only, as is the ‘ducktail’ rear wing integrated into the rear section of this 1,500 PS strong W16 masterpiece, but the differences between this one-off and the regular Chiron don’t end there, Bugatti also changed both the steering and the suspension settings on the Profilée for more responsive handling. Putting in shorter gear ratios on the transmission and an increased rev limit to 6,900 rpm (200 rpm more) will keep the Chiron Profilée accelerating all the way up to a top speed of 380 km/h.
On the interior, the uniqueness continues, with the use of no less than 2.5 km of leather strips to create a very intricate woven upholstery, add the sections in white leather and blue smooth leather and you’ll end up with a beautiful, classic-looking interior, complete with visible carbon fiber wherever possible, I think this surely is a very nice way to conclude the Bugatti W16 era, with a car unlike the world has ever seen, and unlike what the world will ever see again, a perfect swansong to an amazing production run of the Bugatti Chiron.
Now that’s a very impressive top speed, but how about reaching 100 km/h from a standstill in just 2.3 seconds, 200 km/h goes bye-bye in a mere 5.5 seconds from 0 … and while many cars struggle to reach 100 km/h in 12.4 seconds, behind the wheel of the Bugatti Chiron Profilée you’ll be doing 300 km/h in that same time frame … those are some eye-watering numbers if you ask me … which brings us to the next big question … how much?
Keeping in mind this is effectively the final W16 quad-turbo Bugatti you’ll be able to purchase, the production run is sold out, and the replacement could be an EV since Rimac came into the picture during the development of the Chiron successor, but personally, I think a hybrid will be more likely to take over the hypercar reign from the Chiron, so this Chiron Profilée is the last, brand-new Bugatti with a W16 that can be acquired from Molsheim, the one that will never be repeated again, and could be your last chance to own a W16 before the era ends.
Well, it gets a little more complicated than just writing a cheque for a few million Euro payable to Bugatti, this unique piece of Bugatti W16 history will go up for auction next year, giving everyone a chance to own this one-off as the Bugatti Chiron Profilée will enter the RM Sotheby’s auction at the Louvre art gallery in Paris on February 1, 2023, I for one can’t wait to see just how high the final bid will be for this amazing automobile.
Check out the official video from Bugatti on the Chiron Profilée before you take a look at some more photographs that depict a true work of art on wheels:
More photographs:
