Bugatti Chiron to cost A$3.5m

The Bugatti Veyron was a landmark car, not just for its speed, but for discovering just how much money rich folk were prepared to spend on a set of wheels.

Its successor, the Chiron, looks set to reset that benchmark, with MOTOR's European Editor, Georg Kacher, reporting for CAR magazine that Bugatti's latest hypercar is set to cost 1.6m pounds, or A$3.5m.

To put that in perspective, for that amount you could buy Ferrari's entire range, including a LaFerrari (if they weren't already all sold), though you could argue anyone with the funds to buy a Chiron probably already owns a fleet of Ferraris.

For this staggering outlay, Bugatti is at least promising performance without equal. An upgrade version of the Veyron's 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 is expected, producing 1100kW/1500Nm.

As well as increasing overall outputs, the power and torque will be spread over a wider range thanks to direct injection and at least two of the turbochargers being electrically-actuated.

Such enormous grunt is claimed to fling the brand new Bug from 0-100km/h in 2.3sec and on to a top speed beyond 460km/h. On the other side of the ledger, cylinder deactivation will so be present for the first time, in an effort to curb the Veyron's ferocious thirst.

Just 500 Chirons are expected to be built, with a public debut set for the 2016 Geneva Motor Show.