BUGATTI GALIBIER

A super-exclusive brand plots the world’s ultimate sedan to replace the world’s ultimate sports car. With imposing size, Neo-Deco styling, and at least 1,000 horsepower, the Galibier will be as fast as Bugatti’s vaunted 16-cylinder Veyron--and priced accordingly.


What It Is 


The 2013 Bugatti Galibier is the high-performance ultra-luxury sedan that’s been expected since Volkwagen Group’s top-tier division unveiled a like-named concept in fall 2009. It’s also the replacement for the 2-seat, mid-engine, mega-power Bugatti Veyron 16.4, which ends production in 2012 at some 450 units after earning wide acclaim as the world’s ultimate sports car. Promising to be the world’s ultimate sedan, the Galibier will cost at least $1.6 million in today’s money, yet will be more numerous than the Veyron, with planned production of 1,000 to 3,000 units according to Germany’s auto motor und sport magazine and Britain’s CAR and Autocar.

We already know a good deal about the 2013 Bugatti Galibier from the concept and from the above publications’ recent interviews with Wolfgang Dürheimer, recruited from Porsche in early 2011 to replace Franz-Josef Paefgen as head of both France-based Bugatti and Britain’s Bentley. Dürheimer was chief of research and development for 12 years at Porsche, which is in the process of joining Bugatti and Bentley under the broad VW Group tent that’s also home to upscale Audi, legendary Italian sports-car maker Lamborghini and, of course, Volkswagen itself.


What To Expect


According to Dürheimer, Bugatti engineers and designers have been “deeply involved” with productionizing the Galibier Concept, a job that is to be finished in fall 2011. Assuming the result gets top-level approval at that point, the first retail cars should be in customer hands by late 2012.


In addition, Dürheimer says the 2013 Bugatti Galibier will not only retain the Veyron’s complex W16 engine and all-wheel drive, but will claim similar “4-digit” horsepower, meaning somewhere north of 1,000. Earlier reports had the sedan being “detuned” to the region of 800-900 horsepower. 


Bugatti’s boss has also confirmed something of a surprise: a gas/electric hybrid option. The system is still some ways from being finalized, and might seem pointless for a cost-no-object car built in limited numbers, but Bugatti’s rationale for it is part environmental and part owner ego. As Dürheimer told CAR: “When the mayors of cities know we can make cars that run silently, I don't expect they will allow cars that pollute into city centers...But I can't imagine a Galibier owner leaving their car at the park-and-ride and catching a bus. That's why we need to offer a hybrid with this car, so owners drive up to the hotel silently in EV mode. But not every Galibier needs to be a hybrid--in places like Dubai it is not what the market wants.” 

Speaking of which, the Galibier Concept was built as a fully operational road-legal exercise so it could be taken around the globe for showings to select prospects, all presumably multibillionaires. Feedback from these “consumer clinics,” held in late 2009 and early 2010, is being used to guide development of the production model.