Bugatti unleashes four-door Veyron

Royale shares coupé’s vast W16 engine, whilst mixing huge pace with more space and luxury

It's the Veyron for all the family! This is our best look yet at the stunning Bugatti Royale – a four-door four-seater that’s set to take the famous firm into a new market.

With the £900,000, 253mph Veyron 16.4 already crowned the world’s most expensive and fastest supercar, Bugatti is seeking to go a step further: it will celebrate its 100th anniversary by unveiling this hyper-saloon at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

Inspired by the legendary 1927 Type 41 Royale, the new model would be as expensive as its brother and be available in a very limited production run for the company’s most loyal customers. As you can see, the exterior echoes the Veyron’s, while inside the cabin will offer unparalleled luxury, with the finest leather, suede and metal trim in addition to seating for four people and a luggage compartment at the rear.

Bugatti won’t be embarking on the project alone, though. It’s rumoured that the firm will team up with fellow VW Group luxury manufacturer Bentley in developing a new front-engined limousine platform. As well as underpinning the Royale, the chassis would be used on the next Arnage. However, the new Bugatti will keep much of the technology seen on the Veyron, such as its four-wheel-drive set-up and 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine, although this will be mounted at the front.

With the same 987bhp and 1,250Nm of torque, the Royale should cover 0-60mph in three seconds and hit a 250mph top speed, making it the fastest four-seater in the world. It will also feature the same seven-speed twin-clutch transmission – developed by UK firm Ricardo – along with that Haldex clutch-equipped all-wheel drive. There will be active aerodynamics, a Veyron-style hydraulic rear wing that rises at speed, huge carbon composite brake discs and adaptive dampers, too.

The current economic downturn means the Royale is still some way off. But with McLaren Automotive boss Ron Dennis predicting a return to growth in 2011, just in time for the launch of his company’s P11 supercar (see Issue 1,060), expect the four-door to go on sale in three years’ time.

In further celebration of its 100th birthday, Bugattiis also planning to launch a 1,350bhp ‘super’ Veyron later this year, along with additional special editions.

Bentley Supersports

Meet the fastest, most powerful Bentley in history – the stunning Continental Supersports!

Packing a 621bhp 6.0-litre W12 engine, the brutish two-seater coupe can accelerate to a top speed of 204mph. But it’s also green too, as it’s capable of running on renewable biofuel as well as petrol.

Making its worldwide debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the mighty machine will go on sale in the UK in Autumn, where it will sit above the 200mph Continental GT Speed as the flagship sports car in the Bentley range.

The result of two-year project by a small number of Bentley designers and engineers, the Supersports is the fastest and most driver-focused Continental yet.

As well as more power, it gets uprated brakes and suspension, a ‘Quickshift’ automatic gearbox and a tweaked four-wheel drive system. It has also undergone an extension weight-saving programme, with lightweight components such as carbon-fibre seats helping it shed 110kg over the GT Speed on which it’s based.

The most obvious change is the muscular bodykit, which packs flared rear wheelarches and wider side sills to cover an increased rear track, larger twin exhaust pipes and a modified rear valance, plus 20-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels. A new dark-smoked steel finish is applied to all exterior ‘brightware’, including the front grille, lamp bezels, window surrounds and wheels.

At the front are a host of intakes and twin bonnet vents, which help provide 10 per cent more air to the uprated 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged W12 engine. With increased turbo-boost pressure, it produces 621bhp at 6,000rpm – 21bhp more than the GT Speed – and another 50Nm of torque taking output to a staggering 800Nm between 1,700-5,600rpm.

Together with the weight loss and the Quickshift transmission, which reduces shift times by 50 per cent, the Supersports does 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds, 0-100mph in 8.9 and jumps from 50mph-70mph 2.1 seconds. With a top speed of 204mph, the Supersports is the fastest Bentley ever made.

The engine is also Bentley’s first ‘FlexFuel’ unit, capable of running on E85 bioethanol or petrol or a combination of the two. The firm has committed to making its entire range FlexFuel-compatible by 2012 and claims that biofuel reduces CO2 output by 70 per cent from its production to its use in a car. Although it’s unlikely the Supersports is much cleaner than the xxg/km GT Speed at the tailpipe, or any more economical.

Positioned as the most driveable Continental GT ever, the Supersports’ rides 10mm lower at the front and 15mm lower at the rear. The anti-roll bars get new geometry, there are new bushes to increase stiffness while the power steering system has been tuned for improved feel.

The Continuous Damping Control (CDC) system has also been tweaked for better response, while the four-wheel drive system now sends power 40:60 per cent in favour of the rear wheels, rather than 50:50 of the standard GT Speed. Ultra-sticky Pirelli tyres, standard fit carbon ceramic brakes and a revised traction control system, which allows more wheelslip, complete the dynamic upgrades.

“The Supersports is an immensely capable real-world supercar with agility and traction in all driving situations”, says Brian Gush, director of chassis and powertrain engineering. “The new rear-bias all-wheel drive and retuned ESP allows the driver to fully exploit the potential of the W12 engine and optimised chassis.”

As you’d expect, the cabin is luxuriously trimmed, but the Supersports uses new, non-traditional Bentley materials including carbon fibre and Alcantara suede. A strict two-seater, the rear seats are replaced by a luggage area while up front, the lightweight sports shells feature carbon-fibre backs and can be individually tailored to the owner.

The headlining, rear compartment and the seat centre panels are finished in Alcantara high quality suede-like material, while the seats get soft-leather with a ‘diamond’ upholstery pattern as do the steering wheel and gear lever. Carbon-fibre replaces the wood veneer on the centre console and facia.

No prices have yet been revealed but the Supersports is expected to cost in excess of £150,000. A limited production run is likely too.

Bentley boom is over — for now

The global sales slump finally has caught up with high-flying Bentley Motors.

Volkswagen AG's British superluxury brand has enjoyed a terrific decade, but its rapid growth has come to a screeching halt this year.

Sales in 2008 will decline about 30 percent both worldwide and in the United States, said Stuart McCullough, Bentley's board member for worldwide sales and marketing.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show, McCullough said he expects Bentley's global sales to fall to about 7,000 units this year from 10,014 in 2007. And he said North American sales will skid to about 3,000 from 4,290 last year. Through October, U.S. sales were down 30.1 percent to 2,333.

Bentley, which has 37 U.S. dealers, has almost three months of inventory in the United States but does not want to pile on incentives, McCullough said.

"We're not putting on dealer cash or cash for retailing, but we're helping fund dealer stock levels," he said.

If a dealer is considerably above normal inventory levels, McCullough said, Bentley provides financial assistance.

Bentley cut production 15 percent this year. "We saw the cascade coming," McCullough said.

At the Los Angeles show, Bentley rolled out a special edition of its Azure — the 500-hp Azure T. The Azure T will be priced about $50,000 above the standard open-top Azure, which starts at $342,495 including shipping.

Only 400 will be produced, with about 100 coming to the United States. The U.S. debut is expected next summer.