Bugatti Publishes New Teaser Video for Upcoming Chiron, the Car Is Yet to Be Seen

Scheduled to be unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the Chiron promises to be “the world’s most powerful, fastest, most luxurious and most exclusive production super sports car.” This claim comes straight from Bugatti on the first day of 2016, when the French brand published a new video on its official YouTube channel.

The video is titled “Breaking New Dimensions” and comes as Bugatti’s new year surprise. Some believe the title might suggest that the new Chiron could be able to break the 300 mph barrier, but the allegedly leaked specs of the car already announced a 290 mph maximum velocity. For the folks using the metric system, that’s 467 km/h. However, the Chiron is said to have a speedometer graded up to 500 km/h (310.5 mph).

While propulsion technology and powertrain development could allow building a production car with a theoretical 300 mph top speed, actually reaching that velocity could be too much for current tires.

The Veyron’s tires were reportedly developed within an inch of their life to be able to attain speeds of over 248 mph (400 km/h) and tire technology might have not improved in the last few years as quickly as Bugatti’s W16 horse power figures. And those tires had a cost of $30,000 per set and could only be changed three times before the need to replace the wheels arose.

So the new Chiron might be a car more powerful than its tires could handle unless the guys at Michelin develop something truly groundbreaking for Bugatti’s latest model. Michelin is responsible for the development of the tires fitted to the Veyron from the factory.

The French company invested heavily in those tires, as they had to be able to support an entirely new level of friction and other forces at the high speeds the car was able to reach. Thankfully, the Veyron could only drive at top speed for a little over 10 minutes with a full tank, ensuring that the tires would not dangerously overheat and risk a potentially fatal explosion.