The Bugatti Veyron FKP Hommage has surfaced as the brand’s tribute to its era-defining supercar.
The new machine has leaked on social media and website Thesupercarblog ahead of its reveal later today, with a lone side-profile image revealing its similarity to the Veyron.
Its black and red colourway mirrors that of the EB16/4 Veyron concept shown in 2003, while its FKP name supposedly references Ferdinand Karl Piech, the late chairman of the Volkswagen Group who was instrumental in the car’s development.
It is the second car from Bugatti’s Solitaire division, following the Brouillard that was revealed last August. That car was billed as the final standalone Bugatti to use the brand’s quad-turbo W16 but, given the FKP celebrates the Veyron, it is most likely to employ the brand’s – and the model’s – signature powerplant. The forthcoming Tourbillon will be the first Bugatti since the brand’s rebirth to use a different set-up: a V16 that, together with three electric motors, puts out a huge 1775bhp. The W16 originally put out 987bhp, though the engine was later boosted as far as 1825bhp for the track-only Bolide.
This year marks two decades since the first customer delivery of a Veyron, which brought a close to one of the most ambitious and tumultuous developments the industry has yet witnessed. Supposedly dreamed up by Ferdinand Piech while riding the bullet train between Tokyo and Nagoya, the original brief was for an 18-cylinder supercar that cracked 1001hp (metric), could hit 60mph in fewer than three seconds and go on to 250mph – beating the record holder of the time, the Mclaren F1.
But such an ambitious project soon hit trouble, with Bugatti spending years issuing denials that the project had hit problems. Its original head of development (and brand president) Karl-Heinz Neumann was sacked in 2003, as Autocar reported problems with cooling such a mammoth gearbox, and difficulty ensuring its seven-speed gearbox was sufficiently reliable.
Nonetheless, the marque’s engineers eventually worked out the kinks, producing not only the world’s fastest road car but also one that could be driven to its full extent by a layman; quite unlike previous icons such as the F1 and the Ferrari F40.
On driving the Veyron for the first time in October 2005, Autocar said: “You have to admire Bugatti and VW for a) having the guts to conceive such a monster in the first place and b) for summoning the engineering nous and commitment to produce it.”
The verdict was that it was “the most impressive” supercar in the world – “undoubtedly”.