Bugatti wasn’t content to leave the Chiron alone. The French hypercar company tinkered with the original 1,500-horsepower sports car to come up with the Bugatti Chiron Sport, a lighter version that’s supposed to be more agile and take corners even faster.
The company said Tuesday it plans to deliver the first vehicles, which start at $3.26 million, to customers at the end of 2018.
And why not offer a slightly tweaked version of the Chiron. The hypercar has proven popular with the billionaire set. By March 2017, the company had logged at least $650 million—and probably more—in customer orders for the Chiron. And that was before it started giving test drives.
“The Chiron Sport has become perceptibly more nimble and its new agility, especially in tight corners makes for a much more emotional experience for the driver on winding roads and handling circuits,” said Bugatti Automobiles president Stephan Winkelmann in a statement.
Bugatti used a number of new lighter parts to reduce the car’s weight by 40 pounds, which may seem inconsequential except in the world of hypercars. The new parts include lightweight wheels and an increased use of carbon fiber for the intercooler cover. It also has new windscreen wipers, which Bugatti says are the first to be made from carbon fiber. The Chiron Sport also features lighter glass in the rear window and a new, lighter exhaust deflector.
The company says ut stiffened the suspension, tweaked the steering, and improved the rear-axle differential by adding a function that distributes torque individually to the wheels on each side. This torque function improves the steering and agility of the vehicle, especially in tight curves.
All this leads to a more responsive car that corners faster than its predecessor. On the handling course of the Nardò test circuit in Italy, Bugatti developers recorded a lap time in the Chiron Sport that was five seconds faster than the original Chiron model. It was even able to corner at speeds over 124 miles per hour.
Bugatti’s design team has, of course, created a package of color and trim options for the Chiron Sport so well-heeled customers can give their Chiron Sport vehicles the sportiest look possible. The Chiron Sport on display through March 18 at the International Geneva Motor Show (and shown above) features all the options available including a color and trim package. It costs $3.67 million.