WSJ: Million-Dollar Baby: World's Most Expensive Car

[question everything]

(edited to add the photo of the rear spoiler)

Million-Dollar Baby: World's Most Expensive Car

VW Will Start Selling Costly Bugatti in the U.S.; Zero to 62 in 2.5 Seconds
By STEPHEN POWER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 14, 2005; Page D1

After seven years of false starts, a $1 million car billed as the world's fastest factory-produced automobile is about to arrive on American shores. Volkswagen AG is launching early next year the Bugatti Veyron, a curvaceous two-seater with air-intake scoops and a large radiator grille that prominently displays the Bugatti badge. For the German car maker, it represents an unusual bet on the high-end market at a time of cost cutting for the company and as U.S. car makers continue to struggle with slow sales.

The Bugatti Veyron boasts a massive, rear-mounted 16-cylinder engine with 1,001 horsepower -- roughly the equivalent of a couple of Porsche 911s combined -- and a rear spoiler that helps keep the car from spinning out of control at high speeds. It needs just 2.5 seconds to accelerate from zero to 62 miles per hour, and burns rubber so quickly that its makers had to hire France's Michelin SCA to develop a special compound for its tires. Its top speed: 252.9 mph.

Yet for all the car's horsepower, VW acknowledges that many of those who buy the Veyron will seldom drive it, let alone at its top speed. Few, if any, public streets in the world allow motorists to approach anything near the car's top speed. Repairs are another challenge. Bugatti officials say their dealers will have staff trained to handle routine maintenance needs, such as oil changes. For more complicated problems, the company says it will send over technicians from Europe.

It's also not clear how long VW will keep making the car, which is being produced at the rate of less than one a week at a glass-walled factory in the Alsace region of France. The Veyron will be sold through a half dozen Bentley dealerships across the U.S., including sites in Miami, Troy, Mich., Beverly Hills, Calif., San Diego, Pasadena, Calif., and Greenwich, Conn. VW hopes to sell 300 over the next five years or so, but acknowledges production might stop if it doesn't get enough orders.

(snip)

Write to Stephen Power at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113451536827021669.html (subscription)






A rear spoiler helps keep the Veyron from spinning out of control at high speeds.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. What is the point of this?

It seems to me the only reason to have one of these is to substitute for shortcomings the owner thinks he may have.

[kay1864]

8. Wow...

You can do psychology remotely by email? I thought only Bill Frist could do that...LOL :P

[TheCowsCameHome]

Like..um...you know, the lack of having a ...um... you know...............

[question everything]

18. To justify the tax cuts, of course

You did not expect the top 2% of the wealth to be used to, say, hire more people, expand production, pay for health care insurance and retirement for the middle class people, did you?

Or even to help the victims of Katrina, the earthquake in Afghanistan, AIDS patients in Africa..

Nooo... the tax cuts are to buy stuff. At least some factory workers in France benefit. Oh, the irony.

[jayctravis]

48. I hope VW redeems themselves by making an ultra efficient

car next. If they made a hybrid that pretty they'd fly off the...uh...shelves.

[entanglement]

50. or shortcomings SHE may have LOL

(p**is envy?)
:P

[redqueen]

2. See? Just like I said... New Gilded Age. n/t

[BlueInPhilly]

4. I didn't know GM also bought Volkswagen

I work for GM, so I'm allowed...)

[question everything]

10. "Let me tell you about the rich.

They are different from you and me."

So wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1926 in the Great Gatsby. To which Hemingway is said to have responded, "Yeah; they've got more money."

[maxrandb]

33. Money Can't By You Happiness,

but you sure can park the yacht awful close to it.

[QuettaKid]

3. I want one....

I know I shouldn't, but I do.

[mainer]

54. What IS it with guys? My husband wants one, too.

And he's a good Democrat.

[NNadir]

5. Now this is a disgusting item. n/t

[redqueen]

6. A-frickin-men. n/t

[kay1864]

7. Disgusting item? No, that would be GWB

This is just a very expensive sports car B-)

[redqueen]

16. GWB is a disgusting person.

A million dollar car in a world where 8 children die every SECOND due to lack of access to clean water is DISGUSTING.

[NNadir]

23. You have summed it perfectly. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Obscene imo. nt

[Probing]

51. You just don't understand it, so its disgusting?

Way to be progressive.

There is beatiful craftsmanship in this car, wonderful engineering involved. Its a work of art that does something most other works of art never do, it also functions. This car is the embodiment of the craftsmen who designed and build it saying "look at what we can make". This is the limit of what's possible in car building being pushed outward (in one direction, other directions include efficiency or terrain capability)

If you ask me, the disgusting bit surrounding this car is that damn near every one built and sold will mostly sit somewhere. Cars like this aren't made for cruising the strip, or going to the office. They are meant for the track, the car being street legal and offering the driver great comfort only add to the awe its peformance commands.

[NNadir]

52. I understand it perfectly. I find it disgusting.

If you need to see why, see Redqueen's post.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Impressive! Faster than GOP free-fall. Do they call the spoiler a "W"?

I'd like to load the RW into it and crash it.

[kay1864]

12. Now that would be...

a waste of $1 million. Might I suggest a used Ford Excursion instead? :eyes:

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. Money well spent, in my book. Actually, cheap at twice the price.

I'd donate a few bucks to see it happen.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

11. Does it fly, go underwater or shoot missiles? n/t

[jayctravis]

47. It apparently travels through time if you hit 88 mph.

At least it should at that price.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

56. For that money one should also get the professor included with it. n/t

[saracat]

14. Wasn't the Bugatti an elite car in the 1930's? Weren't they more Foo Foo

Than a Rolls Royce? Is Bugatti still in business or have these people just used the name? Anyone know? just wondering.

[MN ChimpH8R]

29. Bugatti was the most highly regarded marque in the world

back in the 1920s and 1930s. They built cars for the road and the track, and many Bugattis could be driven to the race and then win it. Ettore Bugatti died in the 1940s, IIRC, and the family jealously guarded the rights to his name. Bugatti was sort of an earlier version of Enzo Ferrari - a manic perfectionist and innovator. VW is paying a hefty sum to the Bugatti family to use the name and trademark EB logo.

[Dead_Parrot]

15. Pointless capitalist crap...

...Of course, if I had a million dollars, I'd have one on order already. Dribble.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Not Me. I Would Buy A Few Nice Cars And Keep The Difference

That's just stupid. I don't care how much money one has, one could buy a Rolls, a Ferrari, and a Jag for 3/4ths of that. Geez, my house isn't even worth a quarter of that car! And i have an ok house!
The Professor

[ClintonTyree]

17. There will be more buyers than cars........

on that point you can rest assured. There are more obscenely rich people in this country than ever and our pretzelnit is giving them tax breaks galore to make sure that trend continues. The gap between rich and poor is ever widening and the disappearing middle class is shifting toward the poor end of the spectrum, not the rich end.

As long as Corporations continue to make ostentatious, obscene products such as this car there will continue to be more buyers than product. These people MUST have the first, biggest, best, most expensive, fastest in order to stroke their enormous, inflated egos. That is, until the NEXT biggest, best and fastest car comes along, then of course the process starts all over again.

What insecure jackass would buy something like this? Leafing through the bush "pioneer" donors list would provide a good clue.

[NaturalHigh]

21. A million-dollar car?

Thanks, but I'll just hold onto my Honda Civic. It won't get to 60 mph nearly as fast, but it's paid for and gets great gas mileage.

[Tactical Progressive]

22. That's been a concept car for a couple of years

I didn't think they were going to produce it.

I'd like one, but I think I'd like to see Social Security shored up first. Anyone who can afford that car can afford to put more into Social Security.

[PurityOfEssence]

24. But at that speed, how can you throw rocks at beggars?

So sad.

[TheCowsCameHome]

26. It comes with a potato launcher just for those occasions

[ProfessorGAC]

27. You Just Have To Flip It Out The Window

The momentum will do the rest! Actually makes it easier! See! Not so sad after all!
The Professor

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

57. Stones included. All you have to do is press the button with

the guy in trench coat and beard.

[MN ChimpH8R]

25. The Veyron is an art/engineering statement

about what is technologically possible when there are no constraints. The engineers and stylists got to see their wildest dreams realized as a "production" car rather than as a one-off show car. Most Veyrons will end up as objects d'art in premier car collections.

[Book Lover]

44. Exactly - I heard it costs VW $5mil to make each one

It's an engineering exercise that VW think they can sell a few of. If I were filthy rich, I'd sell every other vehicle I had to own this thing. It is a work of engineering and sculptural beauty.

[KansDem]

28. Why is it these cars never run on level ground?

Top photo: leans to the right
Bottom photo: leans to the left

Why is that? :shrug:

[jim3775]

36. It runs on level ground

It actually changes shape depending on how fast it goes to keep it on the road.

[jmowreader]

30. I can think of four reasons why this car won't sell

Y'know, besides the fact that it costs a million dollars. There are people for whom this is not an issue.

First, it's butt ugly.

Second, it's not maintainable by the average car aficionado. Someone who is thinking about paying a million dollars for a car has cars for a hobby. He wants something he can fiddle with, and this Bugatti looks like the hood's welded down.

Third, the car aficionado wants to play around with the tires. Go to http://www.tirerack.com and look at the high-performance tires. See the hundreds of choices available to you? They're not available to the person who buys the Bugatti.

And most important, why buy this car for a million dollars? Send Chip Foose a million dollars, tell him what model of car you want, and let his imagination run wild. You will turn a LOT more heads.

[Yollam]

31. Oh yeah, I've always wanted a car to make me do this:

Whee!


Nope, not really. Maybe if I was about 15 years old I'd lust after that crap.

I just need a car that gets good mileage and allows me to pass on the highway.

Good luck selling that albatross. I hope at least that VW pays its assembly line workers well, instead of giving everything to the CEOs as they do here.

[Ignacio Upton]

32. I love this car!

I was watching a download of the British car show "Top Gear" and they did a demonstration of it. The hosts went to Italy to buy truffles that they would personally deliver to a restaurant at the top of a London skyscraper. One of them got in the Veyron and drove from northern Italy to London, while the other two took a crappy Cessna. The guy flyign the plane couldn't directly cross the Alps, so the plane had to go through Nice, while the Veyron passed directly through the mountains. Also, the guy flying the plane did not know how to fly the plane at night, so the two on board the plane got out and took a train to London. THey were beaten by the guy driving the Veyron. BTW, it goes 1,000 horse-power, 240 mph, and Volkswagon actually LOSES money whenever they make one. It costs $4 million dollars to make it, while it only sells for $1 million. Only the uber-rich will buy them.

[EOTE]

37. Another drooler here....

If they only did more to keep the weight down. It's hard to imagine a sports car at more than 2 tons. Mercedes' AMG massaged twin turbo V12 makes 600+ hp and nearly as much torque as the Bugatti does and it's put in the far more reasonable, sub 200 grand SL65 and CL65. Their new 6.3 liter V8 is supposed to make around 800 hp in forced induction versions. Also, Cadillac might be putting into production a 1000 hp V16 in the near future. I'm sure the drive train of the Veyron is extremely heavy (as any 1001 hp drivetrain would be), but I'm surprised at a million bucks, they couldn't keep the weight down to less than a Buick by more extensive use of carbon fiber and such. It's an amazing piece of machinery alright, but it would have been all the more so if they could have shaved off a good 500 lbs or so, even if it meant limiting the output to a meager 800 hp :).

[Ignacio Upton]

42. Yeah, it's over-priced

And, while many see the car as a sign of decadence, I see it as a technological marval. Aesthetically it vaguely reminds me of that futuristic Lexus from Minority Report.

[Book Lover]

45. That was oneof their best races :-)

They should have waited until James was night-certified, though; they would have won if he could have flown all the way to London.

[Blue_Tires]

34. I'd rather have a Corvette

1000 HP? on the STREET??? I doubt if any of the rich folks out there even have the guts to drive it at 5/10ths....If any out there do, this car will be re-named the 'rich man's Darwinizer"

[EOTE]

39. Have you seen the new Z06?

500hp and around 1000 lbs lighter than the Veyron. All that and you can have one for under 70 grand. Plus, I'm guessing you're no further than a supercharger or twin turbo, plus some intake and exhaust work away from reaching that 1000hp mark. I'm sure Liggenfelter or some other aftermarket group will have a 1000+ hp Vette ready in a year or so.

[Blue_Tires]

49. yes, i'm a big fan of the Z06

[jim3775]

35. Volkswagen takes a 4 million dollar loss on the manufacture of every car

It is not for sale, it was an auto engineering revolution. Anyone who saw this weeks top gear will know what I'm talking about.

[derby378]

38. Does it have a cupholder that will hold a Super Big Gulp?

I'm just askin'...

[Rosco T.]

40. It's nice, but I would rather have 'Daisy' or a vintage 'Winged Warrior'

[Javaman]

41. And how many miles to the gallon does the gas sucker get? n/t

[question everything]

43. As it says: if you have to ask, you cannot afford it

As for a million bucks, hey, with so many CEOs and others who make 50 and 60 and 100 million a year, what's a million to spend on toys?

After all, if you make, say, $50K a year you spend a lot more of your income on a car than those millionaires.

Not to mention all the oil sheiks and the Hong Kong and Singapore and Tokyo bankers.

[Javaman]

53. Not asking price, asking MPG...

and contrary to popular belief, most millionaires/billionaires are notorious tightwads.

So I remit: how many miles does this gas sucker get to the gallon?

[flvegan]

46. And they'll sell every single one. Why?

Because of the bragging rights. "I own the fastest car you can legally put a license plate on."

Nothing, not even the heftiest hot rod will touch her. The Porsche 959, a legend, not even legal here, would be nothing but a speck in the rearview mirror. Even one offs like the creations from Vector Aeromotive, like the W2 Twinturbo could Armor-All this car's tires.

You could hire Lingenfelter and Duttweiler to hop up your Vette or Viper with money as no issue, and you still won't catch this one.

And THAT is why this will sell. I'll bet Jay Leno already has a shipping date.

Of course, 250 mph is more than any non-professional can handle, especially on the streets of the US. Folks will probably die in this car. I've heard about enough celebs doing stupid shit in their Lambo or Ferrari that would love one of these rather than the now passe Maybach...

[QC]

55. This is why there should be a 100% tax on large incomes and estates.

Not even Marx himself could have come up with a more compelling argument than this.