“To date, a modern Bugatti has represented a perfect balance between high performance, straight-line dynamics and luxurious comfort. Within our possibilities, we have shifted the balance in the case of the Divo further towards lateral acceleration, agility and cornering. The Divo is made for bends,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
The Divo, Bugatti’s new super sports car is, therefore, tuned for agility, nimbleness and optimum handling performance on winding roads. The aerodynamics of the model has been intensively fine-tuned, and the suspension and chassis settings have been modified. The Divo is 35 kilograms lighter and has 90 kilograms more downforce than the standard Chiron. The lateral acceleration of the Divo has been boosted to 1.6 g. Its maximum speed is limited to 380 kmph and yet, it can lap the Nardò handling circuit in southern Italy eight seconds faster than the Chiron.
Only 40 units of the current series will be manufactured with a net unit price of €5 million each. It was sold out even before its public unveiling on August 24 at the Quail, an exclusive event of the Monterey Car Week.
“The feedback from our customers was overwhelming. We showed the Divo to a small group of selected Chiron customers. All 40 cars were sold immediately – this was fantastic confirmation for the Bugatti team which had put so much dedication and passion into the project.” – Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
The all-new Bugatti is named after Albert Divo, a French racing driver who was a two-time winner of the famous Targa Florio race on the mountainous roads of Sicily with Bugatti in the late 1920s. With the Divo, Bugatti is also reviving its coachbuilding tradition. In its first few decades, the French luxury brand had considerable success with bodies built to its own design and installed on existing chassis.
“The modern interpretation of coachbuilding gave us engineers new freedom,” says Stefan Ellrott, Head of Technical Development at Bugatti. “The step that we have taken with the Divo in terms of agility and high-performance cornering dynamics can be compared with the overall development from the Veyron to the Chiron.”
The slimmer profile of the Divo helps make the vehicle look lower and longer than the Chiron, while the visual horizontal division of the body is reinforced by a unique colour scheme. The top, more elegant section has a matt finish in ‘Titanium Liquid Silver,’ a colour developed especially for the Divo. This section effectively underpins the sculptural, muscular form of the car. The long-domed areas with their smooth surfaces along the C-pillar and the rear side sections optically shift the driver’s cab forwards.
The lower part of the car’s profile has more of a functional, technical design, reinforcing its forceful appearance and giving it a confident stance on the road. This section features exposed carbon fibre with the ‘Divo Racing Blue’ shade also developed, especially for this model. These features combine to give the Divo an extremely dynamic appearance even when the vehicle is standing still.
An entirely new architecture was developed for the front of the car featuring additional air inlets for brake cooling. The new, vertically oriented front lights with daytime running light on the outer edge give the Divo an appearance of greater width. The lightweight LED headlights are only 35 millimetres wide. A light animation developed exclusively for the Divo underlines the distinctive signature of the front end. The horizontal split into a lower carbon and an upper matt silver adds to the lower stance look of the Divo while underlining the visual impression of width.
The signature element at the rear is the new, highly sophisticated 3-D rear light which is, in fact, part of the rear grille made up of individual lightweight fins in a variety of sizes. A total of 44 of these fins light up. At the outer edge, the fins become wider, creating a more intensive light while towards the centre they are narrower, resulting in gradual fading of the light. The two-tone colour scheme continues to the rear where air outlets, rear spoiler and diffuser have a carbon finish.
The new height-adjustable rear spoiler is 23 per cent wider than that on the Chiron and results in higher air brake performance as well as significantly more downforce. The downforce is further boosted by the fully redesigned rear diffuser to produce a total downforce of 456 kilograms, 90 more than the Chiron.
The spoiler is part of a sophisticated aerodynamics programme that results in optimum vehicle cooling and 90 kilograms more downforce. The central line that runs from the front, over the roof, and to the rear spoiler is not only a reminiscence of Bugatti’s legendary past but also prevents air turbulence causing eddies from forming over the rear spoiler. The front cover air intakes ensure improved airflow at the front and increased aerodynamic efficiency. The newly-designed, wide front spoiler provides higher downforce and guides more air to the front air inlets. The brakes are cooled by four independent air sources on each side and are aided by the vacuum generated by the air curtain on the tyres.
The roof of the Divo has been designed to form a flow-optimised air inlet. In combination with the specially designed engine compartment cover, this ensures a very high air mass flow to the engine compartment, playing a pivotal role in the temperature management within the engine bay of the vehicle.
The chassis was developed to make the Divo sharper, agile and nimble. The steering and suspension have been set to ensure more direct response and significantly sportier driving behaviour in all drive modes. The Divo is 35 kilograms lighter than the Chiron as a result of a number of lightweight design modifications such as the new lightweight wheels, carbon fibre intercooler cover, a reduction in the amount of insulation material, the installation of a lighter sound system, and the decrease in storage compartments.
The colour scheme and materials used for the exterior continue into the interior. A matt version of the exclusive high-gloss carbon fibre used on the exterior is found in the interior. The colour effects of the carbon tint and exterior paintwork are complemented by the dark ‘Divo Grey’ petroleum tone of the Alcantara in the interior, providing a subtle contrast with the glass-blasted anodised grey surfaces of the metal parts. The distinctive “Divo Racing Blue” is also used as an Alcantara leather tone almost throughout the driver’s section while it only provides selected accents in the darker passenger’s section.
Another stylistic link between interior and exterior is created by the door trims and seat areas, which feature an embroidered three-dimensional rhomboid structure with an algorithmic configuration, reinterpreting the structure of the grille and rear lights. Technical innovations in the interior include the seats, which not only feature a new design but also offer greater lateral support. The steering wheel is partly covered with Alcantara and has larger paddles fitted firmly on both sides of the wheel. Thanks to larger armrests and calf supports, the central console ensures greater comfort.
