Time for your weekly dose of “what the heck?” But instead of originating in the darker reaches of the automotive web, this latest installment comes straight from one of the world’s most prestigious automotive brands: Bugatti. The French brand recently put up a photo of a (presumably) forthcoming vehicle’s taillights on its website with the caption “What if…?”, and we genuinely have no idea what sort of vehicle these lamps are attached to.
Bugatti is no stranger to the world of insane concepts, though, and we would not be surprised if this image previews the brand’s next show car. Just look to Bugattis efforts in the late 1990s and its crazy concepts such as the EB 218 and the wildly styled—for its time—18/3 Chiron. These days Bugatti seems more interested in doing wild one-offs than crazy concepts that never make it past the auto show stand, so it’s possible the vehicle in this image actually sells to a wealthy fan of the brand.
Cast your mind back to the impossibly gorgeous La Voiture Noire that made its debut in March of last year. The $18.9 million Bug was created for a mystery buyer. It also provided additional proof that Bugatti’s gotten quite good at weaving carbon fiber into intricate shapes. The same is true for the (less attractive) Bugatti Centodieci, of which Bugatti plans to produce just 10 examples.
Still, what the heck is this latest Bugatti with its X-wing-like taillights teasing? An all-new model? A concept car? A limited-production variant of the Chiron? All are fair guesses, but we recently saw images of a hardcore-looking prototype tearing up the tarmac at Circuit Paul Ricard in France. That paired with Bugatti’s penchant for one-offs makes us think this is going to be an extremely rare, track-focused version of the Chiron, and it’s going to have to looks to match the rarity. Stay tuned for more info on October 28.
This post has been updated with a new teaser image since it was originally published on October 20, 2020.
