Molsheim is an idyllic location in Alsace, north-eastern
France, and it’s been the home of the Bugatti since it was founded in 1909.
Here, the luxury marque is making automotive dreams come
true with the Chiron – its latest stunning supercar.
As series production of the Chiron gathers pace, Bugatti
plans to complete up to 70 cars in 2017 out of a total production of 500, of
which more than half are already accounted for.
On average, six months pass between start of production and
delivery. A total of 20 employees
assemble the Chiron from more than 1,800 individual parts in the ‘Atelier’
where the world’s most powerful, fastest, most luxurious and most exclusive
production super sports car is completely hand-built.
Personalisation is key to the process and customers can
choose from 23 colours for the exterior.
For the interior there are 31 different colours or Alcantara in eight
colours, as well as 30 stitching, 18 carpet and 11 seatbelt colours. In addition to this basic range, thousands of
other colours are possible and they can even be created to match a favourite
handbag or the label on a customer’s preferred brand of mineral water.
Only when the customer has signed off the configuration does
production planning start. The many
small wheels of a complex process that runs to a strict time schedule are then
set in motion. When a production slot
has been assigned to a customer’s vehicle, the parts that are needed are
ordered.
One month before the start of production in Molsheim, the
bodyshell is assembled with the monocoque and chassis substructure for the
first time to ensure that everything fits together perfectly.
Each part is assigned a kit number and is then transferred
to the paint shop and it takes about three weeks to apply the various coats of
paint.
The production building for the Chiron, which Bugatti calls
“Atelier“, has a floor space of more than 1,000 square metres. It was inaugurated in 2005 and has an oval
configuration, based on the French brand’s logo, the Bugatti “Macaron”.
It was designed by the renowned architect Professor Gunter
Henn from Munich and for more than 10 years, the legendary Veyron 16.4 and its
derivatives were built there.
At Bugatti, there are no conveyor belts or robots. Staff work at 12 stations where various
stages of the Chiron’s production are carried out.
The rolling dynamometer, or rolling road, is perhaps the
most impressive stage of the process.
Here, tests take between two and three hours, during which time the
vehicle covers about 60 kilometres. The
unit is so powerful that it can produce electricity with a current of up to
1,200 amps during operation and Bugatti feeds the excess power generated to the
local grid in Molsheim.
Another key stage is the water test where the Chiron is
exposed to monsoon rain of varying intensity for 30 minutes to show that there
are no leaks.
After the cars have been tested at speeds of up to 250km/h
(155mph) on the runway, followed by a more leisurely road run, the Chiron is
transferred to the paint booth, where it is prepared for the finish. All the protective foils are removed and the
vehicle is then cleaned and polished, but it can take up to three weeks before
the paintwork is finally signed off.
Then it’s over to the customer who will probably already
have seen the car several times during the production process.
Named after race ace Louis Chiron (1899-1979), the most
successful Bugatti works driver, the car packs 1,479bhp and is all about
numbers.
Two in particular stand out:
1. The basic price is around Euro 2.872.200 (£2.4 million) (U$ 3.078.900).
2. It has a top speed of 420km/h (261mph) “limited for road
travel” (so expect a speed record attempt anytime soon).
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