Bugatti Divo Makes Its World Debut At Quail In Monterey, California

Bugatti Divo Makes Its World Debut At Quail In Monterey, California

Adrienne Faurote
By Adrienne Faurote September 1, 2018

One of the most expensive car brands in the world, Bugatti,  just unveiled its latest model, Divo, at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering in Monterey, California. The French super sports car brand gave its latest model an engine power output of 1,500 PS, a 77-pound (35 kilogram) weight decrease and other attributes, allowing it to perform at its optimal level.

“When I took up my position at Bugatti at the beginning of the year, I soon learnt that our customers and fans were waiting for a special vehicle which would tell a further story for the brand in addition to the Chiron,” said Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “The Bugatti team was also very eager to implement a project like this.”

The Divo—aptly named for a French racing driver and two-time Targa Florio winner, Albert Divo—brings back the brand’s  coach-building tradition, but in a contemporary manner. “The modern interpretation of coachbuilding gave us engineers new freedom,” says Stefan Ellrott, Head of Technical Development at Bugatti. “The step that we have taken with the Divo in terms of agility and high-performance cornering dynamics can be compared with the overall development from the Veyron to the Chiron.”

With several aerodynamic properties, the newly-designed wide front spoiler gives the car an improved cooling performance, better brake airflow and high air mass flow to the engine compartment, via the NACA air duct roof. Its reduced weight and new chassis and suspension settings also make for optimal performance, especially around corners.

“The Divo has significantly higher performance in terms of lateral acceleration, agility and cornering,”  continued Winkelmann. “The Divo is made for corners.”

Though certainly distinguished from the Chiron, the Divo is still easily and instantly recognizable as a Bugatti. This is thanks to the progressive design language used for the high performance vehicle.

“The Divo is a further example of our design philosophy ‘Form follows Performance,” noted Achim Anscheidt, Director of Design of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “In this case, the engineers and designers aimed to create a vehicle focusing on cornering speeds and lateral dynamics…The Divo project was also a welcome opportunity for our team to add a modern chapter to the coachbuilding story of Bugatti which had been so successful in the early years of the brand. Our task was to develop a vehicle which would look different from the Chiron but still be immediately recognizable as a Bugatti. For us designers, this meant that the three key style elements of Bugatti had to remain in place: the horseshoe-shaped front grille, the typical Bugatti signature line along the sides of the vehicle and the characteristic fin that defines the longitudinal axis of the car when viewed from above, which was derived from the Type 57 Atlantic.”

Priced at €5 million, the car is limited to a 40 vehicle production, which has already sold out. For more information, please visit the brand’s website. All images courtesy of Bugatti.

Additional Details courtesy of Bugatti

  • 35 kg (77 lbs) lighter than the Chiron
  • Modifications to chassis and suspension and weight reduction
  • Higher lateral acceleration of 1.6 g
  • 90 kg (198 lbs) more downforce than the Chiron
  • Maximum speed limited to 380 km/h (236mph)
  • 8 seconds faster lap time on the Nardò handling circuit
  • New progressive design language underlines the inner values of the Divo
  • Divo is the modern interpretation of Bugatti’s coach-building tradition
  • Divo to be homologated as a road vehicle
  • Strictly limited to small series of 40 vehicles already sold out
  • Net unit price: €5 million