For some time now, whispers of a new Bugatti have suggested a faster and more agile car was in the making. What many expected to be a modest power upgrade with some lightweight components added here and there, turned out to be drastic evolution in aggressive design, and a new benchmark in Bugatti’s record of absurdity. The new Bugatti Divo looks like something out of a video game, paired with genuine styling finesse and quintessential brand ethos. In all respects, Bugatti may have just blurred the lines of fanciful concept design, and attainable reality.
Logic and reason must be tossed out the window when contemplating the new Divo. A car that uses the same gearbox, engine, and cockpit of the ‘standard’ Chiron, but with a price tag that will empty your bank account twice as fast – it makes you wonder if the Divo also achieves twice the performance of the Chiron. Truthfully, that’s not quite the case, nor was it the intention. The Divo may use the same monstrous eight-litre W16 engine (producing 1,479hp) as its predecessor, but the way that it puts this power to use if where the Divo comes into its own. Better cornering, faster acceleration, and ultimately a more masterful performance on the track is what puts Molsheim’s latest creation in a league of its own.
Aside from a new chassis and suspension, Bugatti’s engineering witchcraft resulted in 37kg of weight savings over the Chiro, 90kg more downforce, and… a lower top speed. Whereas the Chiron keeps the fun going until 420km/h, the new Divo meets its limit at 380km/h. Is there a method to the madness? The answer lies with the extra downforce and negative camber of the Divo, which improves handling and nimbleness, but at the cost of top speed. Although one of Bugatti’s primary characteristics has been its benchmark maximum speeds, its willingness to embrace a different mentality is remarkably refreshing.
Where the mechanical upgrades may fool you into thinking of the Divo as a regular Chiron with some expensive tweaks, the striking design is here to set your mind straight. The aggressive design embraced by Bugatti truly sets the Divo apart from the Chiron, which, arguably, looks dull in comparison now. In no attempt to cannibalize its lineup, Bugatti has built the Devo to be an entirely new version of the Chiron, with almost every body panel unrecognizable to other Bugatti’s. The Divo has a newly-designed wide front spoiler, an entirely updated front fascia, sporty NACA ducts on the roof, a specially designed engine compartment cover, a new height-adjustable rear wing with active-aero, a more aggressive rear diffuser, reshaped tail pipes, and we could go on. The takeaway: mere words bear striking resemblance to pictures, as they both fail to do the Bugatti Divo justice.
In typical Bugatti fashion, the new Divo not only exudes madness in terms of performance, design, and sheer uniqueness, it also stays true to its roots by having all 40 units of the strictly limited production run already sold out. With its near $6 million price tag, it makes the Chiron look like a bargain, whilst simultaneously giving it a run for its money.
