Super-rich queue up to splash out £2m on 261mph Bugatti Chiron

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Matt Watts|David Churchill17 February 2017

London today affirmed its position as the world’s supercar capital after “highly qualified customers” vied for a chance to merely sit in the latest Bugatti, the fastest road car today.

A model of the £2 million Bugatti Chiron, which has a top speed of 261mph thanks to an 8-litre engine, has been put on show until next week at Britain’s only Bugatti dealership in Bruton Street, Mayfair.

A spokesman for the company said demand to try out the car among “highly qualified customers” — presumably very wealthy ones — had been so high that all appointments, to sit inside it but not take it for a test drive, had been snapped up.

Prospective buyers can then arrange a test drive at a later date at a different location. The spokesman said: “The interest has been very high. All the viewings are booked out.”

The vehicle’s arrival caused a stir on the street as crowds of car fanatics swarmed around it to take pictures as it was dropped off at the showroom this week.

A witness said: “They were all car nuts. It caused mayhem outside. Everyone either wanted a photo of it or their photo with it.”

Only 500 of the French-built car will be made and more than 200 have been pre-ordered since it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last year.

The first cars are expected to appear on the streets in the next few weeks. Bugatti said it was “natural” that some of the first cars would appear in London because it was “one of our biggest markets”.

The Veyron, the Chiron’s predecessor, sold 450 models, 65 to customers in the UK before manufacturing ceased in 2015. It had a top speed of a mere 253mph.

The company spokesman added: “There is no typical Bugatti customer, but they obviously have money and an interest in cars. The average owner has 42 other cars.”

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