One of the last W16-powered Bugattis becomes the most expensive new car sold at auction
The one-off Bugatti Chiron Profilée and one of the final W16-powered Bugattis has sold for a record-breaking €9,792,500 (£8,731,041) at RM Sotheby’s auction in the Louvre Palace in Paris.
Bugatti says the sale makes the Chiron the most valuable new car sold at auction, with it quickly becoming RM Sotheby’s biggest ever Paris sale in its 47-year history. A portion of the proceeds will go to charity.
Following an “extended” bidding contest in a packed auction room, the sale figure grossed double the pre-estimate of €4,200,000-€5,500,000 (£3,744,741-£4,903,827). This makes the 1479bhp Chiron Profilée one of the most valuable Bugattis ever sold at auction.
Other cars sold at RM Sotheby’s Salles du Carrousel auction include a 2003 Ferrari Enzo, which attracted €4,055,000 (£3,615,296) followed by a Ferrari 643 from 1991, which went for €3,661,250 (£3,264,242). Potential buyers bid in person, on the phone and via the internet.
In Profilée trim, the Chiron becomes the last car to use the French firm’s 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine jointly developed with Volkswagen and first seen in the Bugatti Veyron supercar from 2005.
Originally created as an experiment as a result of customer demand, the Chiron Profilée is a bespoke, more comfortable offering based on the hardcore, stripped-back Chiron Pur Sport.
On the Chiron Profilée, which can sprint to 62mph in 2.3sec, Bugatti president Christophe Piochon said: “We knew that what we had created was too beautiful to be hidden away.” He also called it “a true Bugatti and a unique piece of collectible automotive history”.
A number of components have been carried over from the Pur Sport to the Profilée, such as shorter gear ratios, a change in the front and rear camber, and harder springs for better handling dynamics.
In addition to this, the Profilée adds a fixed, 6ft-wide rear wing that improves engine cooling by sucking hot air from the engine bay while providing extra downforce.
Inside, a woven-leather finish is applied to the dashboard, centre console and door panels along with Argent Atlantique paintwork, with the lower part of the exterior finished in carbonfibre.
While the near-£10m sale of the Chiron Profilée makes it RM Sotheby’s most expensive sale, a 1955 example of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Ulenhault sold for $142,000,000 (£126,693,215) at auction in 2022.