2018 Geneva Motor Show: Bugatti puts the Chiron on a diet

THE Bugatti Chiron has added a new variant, the Sport, a slightly lighter version of its monstrous hypercar for the ultra-rich.

The Sport, unveiled at this week’s Geneva Motor Show, has gone on a light diet, losing 18kg compared with the regular 1998kg Bugatti Chiron, but while that could be undone with a couple of hearty lunches, Bugatti has worked on improving the car’s dynamics.

Stiffer suspension and the introduction of torque vectoring is designed to give the Chiron sportier handling characteristics for those who want to carve corners as well as dominate autobahns.

Bugatti claims the dynamic changes have paid off, with the Sport five seconds quicker around Italy’s Nardo Ring handling circuit than the regular Chiron.

The Chiron Sport can be identified from its sibling via a unique wheel design and quad-pipe exhaust deflector. The price: A cool $A4.2 million.

“We have developed the Chiron Sport for customers wanting an even sportier driving experience with their Chiron, with improved lateral dynamics on winding roads,” Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann said.

“What was important for us was to leave unchanged the unique character of the Chiron, its combination of ultimate performance, longitudinal acceleration and maximum speed with luxury, comfort and everyday usability.”

The power figures for the Chiron Sport remain unchanged, which isn’t a problem when the ‘standard’ version already produces an unhinged 1103kW and 1600Nm (more than any other production car) from its 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine.

The performance figures haven’t changed either, with a 0-100km/h sprint of less than 3.0 seconds. The Chiron’s real party trick, though, is barrelling well past that, with 200km/h dispatched in 6.5sec, and 300km/h cracked in 13.6 sec. While most supercars will be running out of puff, the Chiron will continue to push past 400km/h in 32.6sec.

Bugatti is yet to test the Chiron’s official top speed, expected to be more than 482km/h (300mph), as a tyre that can survive the physical forces of an almost 2.0-tonne car travelling that fast hasn’t yet been developed.

The Chiron Sport also introduces a first for the automotive world, with Bugatti introducing carbonfibre windscreen wipers.