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A development project under the guise of "Project Lydia" might sound all very inconspicuous, but with Bugatti at the helm, this ain't no picnic. According to German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Bugatti have finalised plans to develop a new supercar set to rival if only its own model for sheer speed, but they as yet remain just that; plans.Insider information pins the street-legal "Project Lydia" down to 1.5-tonnes and a monocoque body design, having power in the region of 1,175 PS and a top speed of up to 400 km/h (248 mph). While Bugatti are said to be juggling the attributes of racing excellence and polished design, the German publication expects Bugatti's characteristic grille to stay, much like the Veyron's sweeping side profile and prominent 20-inch wheels. From the world of motorsport, a giant rear spoiler, front air splitter and low ground clearance for both chassis and mid-positioned engine will all feature.In pursuit of the greatest possible performance, VW are aspiring for a Nurburgring Nordschliefe lap time of six minutes fourty seconds - beating the Veyron by a full minute. With exclusivity as important a feature as its supercar performance, "Project Lydia", named so after Ettore Bugatti's wife Lydia, is expected to be limited to just 70 examples. And it'll come at a price, retailing for a cool 2.5 million euros.Originally penciled in for a 2009 introduction with support from Supervisory Board Chairman Ferdinand Piech, that date looks likely to shift to atleast 2010 if given the green-light amid scepticism from CEO Martin Winterkorn in the present 'green' political environment.
ringtime is new for me too, this road car looks great
Some source says that Veyron did the Ring time already in 12/2005 with Wheels magazine from Australia. Hard to find any more info about that.
Does it suite Bugatti lineup to have a full blooded racer without luxuries?
oh man.i'm afraid this is another 'dream' idea by the media/magazines.y'know i had a conversation with a guy last year who is involved in the Audi relationship to Bugatti, and i suggested to him that Bugatti should become Audi's branch in motorsports...get involved in LeMans (use Bugatti in the name of the Audi R8 and R10 race cars) etc..etc....and he said that Bugatti is pretty much a lost cause...There isn't much going on in Bugatti right now, and i think eventually the idea of becoming a company who manufactures 'custom coaches' is basically where Bugatti is heading. Y'know that Ferrari P4/P5? imagine some cars like that coming from Bugatti in the future. There may be another car launched by Bugatti in the future...but it's not gonna be this "Lydia" thing...it will probably be a 4-door super sedan, maybe even with the same engine as the Veyron, but costing much less than that. around $600,000 or so.I can't say for sure if a car like THIS ONE exists in idea or not, because it's possible this is new (it's been a good 3 months since i got new information about Bugatti)....however i'm 95% sure this is not what Bugatti is looking to develop.They need to sell more cars at a cheaper price to make any sort of profit. Selling 70 of these for 2.5 million is a waste of time right now....
As always, your "insider" info is always welcome everso... and this time it makes much more sense than all this Lydia project actually That coachbuilding new direction would be limited only to VAG cars (VW, Audi, Lambo, Bentley... Seat?! LOL)? just wondering....
i think the 'coachbuilding' idea has evolved from using VAG platforms, engines, and parts to create special cars at a high cost. Using VAG materials will help them save money on the research and development aspect, meanwhile stay involved with the parent company.An example i was told about, a customer has an idea for a custom supercar. He can pick what car he wants to base it on (Gallardo, R8, Murci, etc..) and then come up with a design he wants. Obviously Bugatti would be involved in this customization process; however the endproduct would be a car tailored to the needs of the customer. Most of these people have big fat wallets to go with their big fat demands; so the idea is...if someone has $500,000 they wanna spend on a car.....wouldn't they rather have a custom built Bugatti rather than buy a Koeniggsegg, or a Ferrari, or Pagani? PROBABLY. So that's the idea...whether or not it happens will be dictated by how much demand there is for something like this. That being said, the name "Bugatti" is still quite a famous and heavily prestigious mark. It easily goes down as one of the greatest names in auto history....so i think they have a good chance of succeeding...what do you guys think?
Hmm i thought they were going for a smaller and cheaper car first, but this would be really stunning
If they want to stay a viable company, they probably should build a cheaper car. It doesn't need to be smaller though.Anyone know how much the development costs were for the Veyron? IIRC, at some point I read that they lost a few million on each car. Not exactly a sound business plan.
Rumors of Bugatti's demise have been greatly exaggerated, while rumors of a second Bugatti model have been confirmed. In a recent interview with an Arabian Gulf journal, Bugatti spokesman Julius Kruta revealed: "Even though it is not economically viable for us, we will do it again. We have bigger plans for the future and the next one from our stables will be even more expensive than the Veyron."The use of the word "next" by industrial giant VW suggests that Bugatti is not preparing only one more model, but several. Previous reports suggested that Bugatti was working on Project Lydia, a track-oriented hyper-ultra-super-duper-car to eclipse even the Veyron's performance figures, although there are rumors that future models from the pinnacle automaker could include an über-luxury super-sedan, a smaller high-performance sports/luxury sedan and a $200k supercar. Although the first of those three would likely be positioned above Bentley's flagship Arnage, the second and third would provide direct competition for other products from the VW Group, like the Lamborghini Gallardo on the one hand and the Audi RS6 on the other...not that poaching each other's products has ever stopped Volks before. With the prospect of an expanding Bugatti looming on the horizon, we doubt anyone will take notice.[Source: Emirates Business 24|7]
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