The first production car to break the 400km/h barrier has made an indirect return through a one-off that reskins the newer Chiron in its iconic bubbled styling.
Bugatti has unveiled a tribute to the iconic Veyron – the first car to break the 400km/h top speed barrier – with a one-off special for a well-heeled customer, based on the newer Chiron.
The FKP Hommage clothes the Chiron and newer Mistral's underpinnings in styling intended to closely resemble the Veyron, from its distinctive quad-circle tail-lights to its curved rear end and prominent engine intakes.
The special is named after the engineer and VW Group CEO who laid the groundwork for the Veyron, its quad-turbocharged W16 engine, and the modern revival of the Bugatti brand, Ferdinand Karl Piëch.
A price has not been named, but the vehicle has been produced for one Bugatti customer through the brand's Solitaire division, created for such special commissions.
The platform and proportions of the Chiron, Mistral, and siblings lend the FKP Hommage a lower look than the original 2005 Veyron, particularly in the flatter bonnet and less rounded front end.
However, designers have shaped a rear end that, without a Veyron side-by-side, would be very difficult to distinguish from the original, should the one-off ever be spotted in traffic.
Bugatti highlights a new version of the brand's horseshoe front grille that "flows organically into surrounding bodywork", and has been machined from a solid block of aluminium.
Slimmer LED headlights flank the grille, with larger air intakes to cool the engine and brakes, and new, Veyron-inspired 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels wrapped in modern Michelin tyres.
The Veyron's distinctive air ducts over the roof have been carried across to the one-off, while the car is finished in a two-tone combination of red paint and black-tinted carbon fibre.
Inside, the FKP Hommage differs from the Chiron with a unique circular steering wheel and a bespoke centre console, both inspired by the original Veyron's cabin.
There's an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Tourbillon clock integrated into the dashboard at the request of the customer.
Bugatti says the metallic centre panel has been polished with a technique claimed to have been "borrowed from the finishing of [founder] Ettore Bugatti's original straight-eight cylinder heads".
Powering the FKP Hommage is the 1600-horsepower (1177kW) version of the 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine from the Chiron Super Sport, matched with its donor's dual-clutch transmission, upgraded cooling and all-wheel drive.
The Chiron Super Sport is capable of accelerating from zero to 100km/h in 2.4 seconds, and an electronically-limited top speed of 440km/h, with a prototype deleting the limiter to hit 490.48km/h (304.8mph) in 2019.
The FKP Hommage will be one of the last Bugatti models powered by the W16 first conceived by Piëch, before the Chiron's successor, the Tourbillion, moves to a V16 engine.
Bugatti will present the one-off at the end of this month at the Rétromobile Paris car show.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
