VW searching for successor to $1.85M Bugatti

Volkswagen AG wants to make sure this year isn’t the last chance to get a new Bugatti.

There are fewer than 20 left of the VW unit’s Veyron, a limited-production line of 450 Bugatti cars that start at 1.46 million euros ($1.85 million). Now VW is testing at least three different concepts for a successor, according two people familiar with the plans, who asked not to be identified before an official announcement.

VW is pumping cash into its most exclusive marque even as it plans cutbacks for its more terrestrial brands. The Veyron set industry records not just for speed, but also for losing money, according to estimates from Max Warburton, a Singapore-based analyst for Sanford Bernstein Ltd. The cost of developing the Veyron, introduced in 2005, means VW may lose 4.6 million euros per vehicle over its life cycle, Warburton said.

“I have long struggled to understand the logic of expending this much time and effort on a Bugatti-branded product,” he said in an email. “I totally get the point of building the world’s fastest car — it pushes the engineering boundaries, motivates the company and can be an image booster. But the image-boosting part is lost when it carries a brand that 95 percent of people don’t know is part of VW.”

The new Bugatti will vie for the world’s most affluent customers with the likes of Italy’s Pagani Automobili SpA, McLaren Automotive Ltd.’s street cars and the U.S.-built Hennessey Venom GT. VW is displaying a special-edition Veyron at the Paris Motor Show.

The next generation will be lighter and, if tests are successful, could feature an engine as much as 25 percent stronger than the 1,200-horsepower motor of the current model’s most powerful version, according to the people briefed on the plans. At least one of VW’s concepts includes an electric motor to boost power and lower emissions, the people said.

Manuela Hoehne, a spokeswoman for Bugatti, said the company will give an outlook on a new model next year. She declined to comment in detail on the concept plans. VW design chief Walter de Silva told BBC’s TopGear the new model would be unveiled at the end of next year or early 2016 and will be “art.”

Bugatti’s 1.65 million-euro L’Or Blanc edition included a built-in caviar tray.

“The clientele between Bentley and Bugatti is remarkably different,” Wolfgang Duerheimer, who returned to his post as Bentley CEO and president of Bugatti in June after 2 years, told reporters in July. “The Bentley customer on average owns eight cars. The average Bugatti customer has about 84 cars, three jets and one yacht.”