Unveiled in 2018 and sold out almost immediately, the limited-edition Bugatti Divo is an evolution of the Bugatti Chiron developed with a focus on handling, not high-end speed.
Stylists resisted the urge to create a pastiche of a 90-year old race like the Type 35. It doesn’t look like the Chiron, either, though its proportions are inevitably similar because the two cars share many parts under their carbonfibre bodies.
Chiron genes are more pronounced inside. Sitting inches off the ground, I face a 500kph speedometer flanked by screens and a relatively small steering wheel with two red buttons and a pair of shift paddles.
My test car – whose owner is patiently waiting for it – wears a two-tone interior with a mostly grey driver’s seat, a black passenger’s seat, and both colours on the steering wheel. Over two-thirds of buyers chose to customise their car and nearly anything is possible as long as clients are willing to pay for it.
Bugatti made no major mechanical changes, meaning the Divo is powered by the Chiron’s quad-turbocharged, 8.0-litre W16 engine. It sends 1479bhp and 1180lb ft of torque to the four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. 0-62mph takes 2.4sec, which is on par with the Chiron.
It’s not a stripped-out track car – its interior is thoroughly luxurious and impeccably built – yet it’s 77lbs lighter than the Chiron and engineers wisely shaved weight where it truly counts.
