Bugatti Unveils Centodieci Hypercar

Bugatti used the Quail Motorsports Gathering at Monterey Car Week to reveal its latest limited edition hypercar, the Centodieci.

The Centodieci was built in homage to the Bugatti EB110 super sports car that was made in the 1990s, according to Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. It was with the EB110 that Bugatti once again rose to the top of the automotive world with a new model after 1956.

“The challenge was not to allow oneself to be captivated too much by the design of the historic vehicle and work solely in retrospect, but instead to create a modern interpretation of the shape and technology of that time,” said Achim Anscheidt, Head Designer at Bugatti.

Bugatti will be making only ten units of the EB110 tribute Centodiecis and all of the ten units have already been presold at an asking price of USS 8.8 million each.

Anscheidt said that Bugatti faced a number of technical challenges when it came to the development and design of the Centodieci. It was technically a highly complex challenge to provide a fresh take on the classic look of the EB110 which was a very flat, wedge-shaped and graphically quasi two-dimensional super sports car of the late 1980s without copying it. The design team had to come up with a new way of combining the complex aerothermal requirements of the underlying Chiron technology with an appearance that was completely different.

The very low slung front of the Centodieci retains the flat, iconic horseshoe-shaped radiator of the EB110 while it has a deep-seated front spoiler and three-section air intakes. The car sports the Bugatti logo Macaron on the hood, and it has a black element at the center. From an aerodynamics standpoint, the design of the front section has been optimized with an extended front splitter and greater airflow through the hood.

The other new feature seen in the model is the complex and very narrow headlamps having integrated LED daytime running lights. These new lighting elements gave greater leeway to the design team to retain more stylistic aspects of the EB110 in the front and rear sections while at the same time adding a modern interpretation to the design.

The designer said that though the team had incorporated the EB 110’s wedge-shaped design in the development process, this was taken a new direction. Rather than replicating the classic Italian wedge in which the muscle runs from the rear to the front wheel, in the Centodieci used a new design instead of the otherwise dominant Bugatti line that runs from the C line on the B pillar.

The Centodieci is considerably smaller than the Chiron and has five round air inserts which take on the shape form of a diamond. They facilitate the air intake that the iconic 16-cylinder engine needs. Thus, the design team successfully managed to bring the classic Bugatti wedge shape into the new millennium.

The Centodieci has the same 8.0-liter W16 engine that is seen in all the new Bugattis, though this variant of the engine has an output of 1,176 kW/1,600 hp at 7,000 rpm. The Centodieci can go from 0-100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and has a top speed that is limited to 380 km/h.

“It’s not just the top speed that makes a hyper sports car. With the Centodieci, we once again demonstrate that design, quality and performance are just as important,” said Winkelmann.

The Centodieci is 20 kilos lighter than the Chiron, thus offering an impressive power-to-weight ratio of just 1.13 kilograms per horsepower. Lightweight elements include a lightweight windscreen wiper and stabilizers made of carbon. The low weight and higher power further enhance performance – for even better acceleration at high speeds, thus delivering even more dynamic handling.