10 years ago, Volkswagen Group's Bugatti brand debuted the Veyron 16.4 at the 2005 Geneva International Motor Show, which at the time was the fastest street-legal production car...in the world. Since that time, the Bugatti Veyron has seen many variations and special editions to keep interest in the hypercar as competitors caught up or even surpassed the speed of the original Bugatti Veyron. Now, Bugatti has just announced that after 450 cars produced, it will show off the last Veyron built at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show.
Appropriately named "La Finale", the chassis #450 will be the 1200 horsepower open-topped Grand Sport Vitesse. Bugatti has confirmed that it has been sold to a customer in the Middle East and will showcase the car alongside chassis #1 at Geneva next month. "La Finale" will most definitely come with many badges and decals denoting it as the last Veyron so that the world will understand just how important this car is. It signifies the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.
During the course of it's lifespan, the Bugatti Veyron has been both praised and criticized by journalists and the public alike. Praise has been given for the incredible feat of engineering and technical aspects of the car. As a reminder, when the Veyron debuted, there was nothing in the market that even came close to the numbers that surrounded the car. It has just over 1000 horsepower, a top speed of 407 km/h, a W16 engine with 4 (!) turbochargers attached to it, and 10 radiators to keep the engine nice and cool. Even with the competition being as aggressive as it is now, respect has to be given to Bugatti for making this car and selling it to the public. On the other hand, the Veyron has been given somewhat of a hard time for being too heavy to be a true driver's car. Even with 1000+ horsepower, it is hard to beat physics when you try to move 4,100 pounds around a corner. Moreover, with 16 cylinders and that much power, you expect the Veyron to sound like all hell's breaking loose. However, the turbochargers do alot to muffle that noise. Still even with those complaints, it is hard to fault the Veyron. Any car that can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, has a top speed of 400+ km/h, and is comfortable enough to use as a daily (not that anyone would), is a technical achievement on its own.
Bugatti has confirmed that a replacement will debut sometime next year. It is rumoured to have even more power, around 1500 hp, and use carbon fiber more extensively to shed some of that excess weight. Only time will tell if that car will go down in the history books like the Veyron, but for now let's take a moment to thank the engineers over at Bugatti for being as lunatic as they are brilliant and making one of the greatest vehicles of all time.
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