Every car is an argument about what matters, and the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron makes its case with 6250 cc W18 and 555 bhp @ 6800 RPM. Bugatti built from 1999 — when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. The shape is credited to Fabrizio Giugiaro at Italdesign under Hartmut Warkuß.
The story
The Bugatti 18/3 Chiron is a 1999 concept car developed by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti Automobiles and designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro of Italdesign. Powered by a 6.3 L W18 engine, it is a 2-seater mid-engine coupé. The 18/3 Chiron was the last in a trio of Bugatti concept cars by Italdesign, after the 1998 EB 118 coupé and the 1999 EB 218 saloon. The Chiron name was used again on the 2016 successor to the Bugatti Veyron.
What is underneath
The engine is 6250 cc W18; the output is 555 bhp @ 6800 RPM. On the scales it comes to 1700 kg. That is roughly 326 horsepower per tonne: genuine supercar pace. Drive goes through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2650 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Bugatti line-up the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron has a clear place: it handed the line to the Bugatti Veyron (Spirtual) / Bugatti Chiron (Name Plate); the factory was Moncalieri (Italdesign), Italy. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ferrari F50, the Ford GT90, the Porsche 911 GT1. Nearby in the Bugatti catalogue sit the Bugatti 57 Galibier and the Bugatti 8-cylinder line.