Good god! The Bugatti Divo has just burst the hypercar loop

Car designer, supercar expert, and regular Classic Driver contributor Chris Hrabalek explains why Bugatti’s latest creation flaunts far more than mere mind-boggling performance…

The silk sheets are off the latest chapter of an automotive fairy tale, one that began more than 30 years ago with the Bugatti EB110 and continued with the Bugatti Veyron and current Bugatti Chiron. Now, the story has evolved into a stunning modern take on the brand’s rich coachbuilding heritage in the form of… the Bugatti Divo.

The next chapter

More cage-fighter than trailer-queen, the Bugatti Divo is 35kg lighter than the Chiron, able to generate an additional 90kg of downforce and eye-watering lateral acceleration of 1.6g. The Divo is also able to lap Nardò’s handling circuit a full eight seconds faster than the Chiron. But that’s not the whole story.

Homologated as a road car and manufactured in a strictly limited small series of only 40 vehicles – at a net unit price of five million euros – arguably the most impressive fact, above and beyond the benchmark-setting performance figures, is this: the Bugatti Divo is already sold out. Yup, all 40 of them.

Who else but Bugatti?

Sit back and ponder this for a moment: how many other marques would be in a position to develop and assemble an automotive product at this price, only to sell out before the product’s world debut? And even more significantly, note Bugatti’s steady (but staggering) evolution from a brand with a one-million-euro product to a brand with a five-million-euro product.

As Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt puts it, “The Divo is the world premiere of something that our customers had been demanding for years: a unique and exclusive appearance based on our core product.” He adds that the marque’s design atelier “is extremely excited to present the renaissance of coachbuilding by Bugatti in Molsheim, today.”

Above and beyond?

In the time it has taken Bugatti to sell 450 Veyrons, Ferrari has sold around 70,000 cars; and in the time taken to sell 500 Chirons and 40 Divos, Ferrari is likely to have shifted some 100,000. Those are figures worth considering.

The Divo marks the beginning of a new era for Bugatti: both in terms of the return of in-house coachbuilding, and as a firm that is rapidly positioning itself at the top of – or even beyond – the current pinnacle of the automotive pyramid.