Bugatti EB 218

Last updated
Bugatti EB 218
BugattiEB218.JPG
Bugatti EB 218 at the 1998 IAA
Overview
Manufacturer Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
Production1999
Designer Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign
Body and chassis
Class concept car
Body style 4-door saloon
Layout Front-engine, all-wheel-drive
Related
Powertrain
Engine 6.3 litre, 72 Valve W18
Transmission 5-Speed automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase 3,000 mm (118.1 in)
Length5,349 mm (210.6 in)
Width1,989 mm (78.3 in)
Height1,455 mm (57.3 in)
Curb weight 2,176.78  kg (4,799  lb)
Chronology
Predecessor Bugatti EB 112
Successor Bugatti 16C Galibier

The Bugatti EB 218 saloon is the second concept car presented by Bugatti under the ownership of the Volkswagen Auto Group. The EB 218 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also designed the EB 112, the car's predecessor and the EB 118, the car's 2-door variant. [1] The EB 218 can be considered as an update of the EB 112, a concept saloon introduced by Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1993. The EB 218 features Volkswagen's unconventional W18 engine and permanent four-wheel drive borrowed from the Lamborghini Diablo VT.

Contents

Design

The design of the EB 218 draws inspiration from the Bugatti Type 101 Guillore 4-door saloon Bugatti Cabriolet Type 101 (1952) photo 2.JPG
The design of the EB 218 draws inspiration from the Bugatti Type 101 Guillore 4-door saloon
EB 218 interior 5705 MNA12064 C Recoura.jpg
EB 218 interior

Bugatti commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign to update the EB 112 concept that he designed for Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1993. The EB218's wheelbase measures 3 m (118.1 in) and it has a total length of 5,385 mm (212.0 in). This makes the EB 218 longer that the EB 112 by 315 mm (12.4 in). The most notable visual differences between the EB 218 and the EB 112 is a redesigned hood, bumpers and lights. The overall design is far less controversial[ citation needed ] than the EB 112's "Droopy hatchback-saloon" design and has a much more of a typical saloon shape rather than the EB 112's hatchback shape. The interior design is very simple yet extremely luxurious, with beige leather seats and a large wooden dashboard which manages to keep all the instruments and vents "composed". The EB 218 draws inspiration from the classic Type 101 Guillore.

Debut

Bugatti introduced the EB 218 at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, [2] one year after its 2-door counterpart was introduced at the 1998 Paris Auto Show.

Powertrain

The EB 218 uses the same W18 engine and permanent four wheel drive powertrain that debuted in the 1998 EB 118. The same technology was used in the 1999 18/3 Chiron concept car.

Power comes from a Volkswagen-designed, 563 PS (414 kW; 555 hp) and 479 lb⋅ft (649 N⋅m), W18 engine. This engine design was extremely unconventional due to the unusual firing order of the engine. The EB 218 W18 engine is composed of three banks of six cylinders with a sixty degree offset between each cylinder bank. In contrast, the W16 engine in Bugatti's (Under Volkswagen ownership) first production car, the 2005 Veyron EB 16.4 features four banks of four cylinders. The EB 218 has the permanent all-wheel drive taken from the Lamborghini Diablo VT sports car.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti</span> French car manufacturer, 1909 to 1963

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars were known for their design beauty and their many race victories. Famous Bugatti automobiles include the Type 35 Grand Prix cars, the Type 41 "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" and the Type 55 sports car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamborghini</span> Italian automobile manufacturer

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamborghini Diablo</span> Sports car

The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph). After the end of its production run in 2001, the Diablo was replaced by the Lamborghini Murciélago. The name Diablo means "devil" in Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcello Gandini</span> Italian car designer

Marcello Gandini is an Italian car designer, known for his work with the automotive design house Gruppo Bertone, including his designs of the Lamborghini Miura, Countach, and the Lamborghini Diablo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volkswagen Passat</span> Car model series

The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and currently in its ninth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat. The successive generations of the Passat carry the Volkswagen internal designations B1, B2, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti EB 110</span> Motor vehicle

The Bugatti EB 110 is a mid-engine sports car produced by Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. from 1991 until 1995, when the company was liquidated. A small number of post-production cars were completed afterwards, with the last one built by Dauer in 2002 and another unfinished example completed in 2019. It was the only production model made by Romano Artioli's Italian incarnation of Bugatti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti Veyron</span> Sports car by Bugatti (2005–2015)

The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pierre Veyron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti EB 118</span> French concept car

The Bugatti EB 118 is the first concept car developed by Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. The 2-door coupé was presented at the 1998 Paris Motor Show. Bugatti commissioned the design of the EB 118 from Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. The EB 118 is powered by a W18 engine and has permanent four wheel drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W18 engine</span>

A W18 engine is an eighteen-cylinder piston engine with three banks of six cylinders in a W configuration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geneva International Motor Show</span> Annual Swiss auto show

The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva.

Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best known for its automobile design work, Italdesign also offers product design, project management, styling, packaging, engineering, modeling, prototyping and testing services to manufacturers worldwide. As of 2010, Italdesign employs 800 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti Automobiles</span> French high-performance luxury automobile manufacturer

Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. is a French luxury sports car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group and is based in Molsheim, Alsace, France. The original Bugatti automobile brand was established by Ettore Bugatti (1881–1947) in 1909 at Molsheim and built sports, racing and luxury cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automotive industry in Italy</span> Overview of the automotive industry in Italy

The automotive industry in Italy is a quite large employer in the country, it had over 2,131 firms and employed almost 250,000 people in 2006. Italy's automotive industry is best known for its automobile designs and small city cars, sports and supercars. The automotive industry makes a contribution of 8.5% to Italian GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volkswagen W12</span> Motor vehicle

The Volkswagen W12 was a series of concept cars created by Volkswagen Passenger Cars in 1997. The cars have been portrayed in games, such as Gran Turismo, Asphalt 8, Asphalt 9, Project Gotham Racing 3, GTI Racing, World Racing 2 and the Test Drive series. The W12 Nardò also featured in a 2013 April Fools joke as the new Volkswagen LeVanto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti 18/3 Chiron</span> Concept car developed by Bugatti and Italdesign in 1999

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.

A retro-style automobile is a vehicle that is styled to appear like cars from previous decades. Often these cars use modern technology and production techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfa Romeo Canguro</span> Motor vehicle

The Alfa Romeo Canguro is a concept car designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone. The car is based on the chassis of an Alfa Romeo TZ and was shown at the 1964 Paris Motor Show. The body is made of fiberglass rather than aluminium and it features one of the first glued in windscreens in a car. The name "Canguro" means Kangaroo in Italian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Lamborghini</span>

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Lamborghini's production facility and headquarters are located in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. Italian manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the company in 1963 with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with offerings from established marques such as Ferrari. The company's first models were introduced in the mid-1960s and were noted for their refinement, power and comfort. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coupé, which established rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive as the standard layout for high-performance cars of the era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti EB 112</span> Concept car developed by Bugatti Automobili in 1993

The Bugatti EB 112 is a concept 4-door fastback saloon presented by Bugatti Automobili S.p.A. in 1993. Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign was responsible for designing the car. The EB 112 features a 456 PS V12 engine and permanent four-wheel drive system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugatti V12 engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

Bugatti made two V-12 internal combustion piston engines. The first was a quad-turbocharged, 3.5-liter engine, used in their EB 110 sports car, in 1991. The second was a 6.0-liter, naturally-aspirated unit, used in their full-size EB 112 luxury fastback sedan.

References

  1. Raffaelli, Fabio (June 2012). Enciclopedia dell'Automobile - Volumi singoli. Script edizioni. p. 200. ISBN   9788866147091.
  2. "1999 Bugatti EB218 - Conceptcarz". conceptcarz.com.