After the Bugatti concern was ruined by World War II, there were several different attempts to bring the brand back, but the most spectacular revival occurred under Volkswagen Group. When the German company’s chairman Ferdinand Piëch bought the rights to produce Bugatti automobiles, he promised that VW would create an outstanding Bugatti boasting over 1,000 horsepower and a top speed of at least 250 mph.
And that’s exactly what VW did: the amazing Bugatti Veyron 16.4 with 1,001 horsepower, a maximum speed of 252 mph and a 0 to 60 mph time of just 2.9 seconds. Flaunting such amazing figures, the Veyron was by far the fastest and most impressive road-legal car of its time. It still is astonishing today, but the Veyron Super Sport has taken its place as the fastest street legal car with a speed of 267.85 mph.
The Veyron 16.4 got its name after a French racing driver, Pierre Veyron, who won the Le Mans competition in 1939. The “16” part of its name represents the number of cylinders in the engine and “4” stands for the number of superchargers that help the car reach mind numbing speeds. This is definitely a car you want to drive at least once in your life.
- Claim to Fame: It used to be the fastest car in the world before the Veyron Super Sport.
- Soundtrack: “Drive Faster” from the movie “That Thing You Do”.
- Ideal Passenger: Ettore Bugatti, who would love to see how far its company has come.
- Did You know? This baby has even got a special horsepower gauge that’s calibrated to 1,001 hp.
