Bugatti unveiled the Divo at the exclusive automotive event The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering in Monterey, California.

“When I took up my position at Bugatti at the beginning of the year, I soon learnt that our customers and fans were waiting for a special vehicle which would tell a further story for the brand in addition to the Chiron,” said Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti Automobiles. “The Bugatti team was also very eager to implement a project like this. 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.”

The Divo is powered by Bugatti’s eight-litre W16 engine with a power output of 1,480 hp. The aerodynamics of the model have been fine-tuned and the suspension and chassis settings have been modified. As a result, the Divo is 35 kilograms (77 lbs) lighter and has 90 kilograms (198 lbs) 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 km/h (236 mph). The Divo can lap the Nardò handling circuit in southern Italy eight seconds faster than the Chiron.

“The feedback from our customers was overwhelming,” said Winkelmann. “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. The Divo is a further project intended to thrill people and the world. Our fans are very important to us.”

The price of the Divo €5 million, or the equivalent of $7.5 million CAD.

The car 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. The Divo represents the modern interpretation of the brand’s coachbuilding tradition

“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 aerodynamic properties of the Divo were improved by a considerable amount of detailed work. The front cover is equipped with air intakes which reduce the effective cross-sectional area of the vehicle at the same time as ensuring improved air flow at the front and increasing aerodynamic efficiency. An optimized “air curtain” makes for better air flow over the front and rear sections of the car’s sides. The newly-designed, wide front spoiler provides higher downforce and guides more air to the front air inlets. The cooling system therefore receives a higher mass flow and overall cooling performance is improved.

The brakes are cooled by four independent air sources on each side of the vehicle: air flows in from the high-pressure area above the front bumper, the inlets on the front wings, one inlet on the front radiator and the diffusers ahead of the tyres. Vanes direct the cold air from these areas onto the brake discs. A heat shield carries the hot air out through the wheels. This system, which is already used on the Chiron, receives additional support from the vacuum generated by the air curtain on the tyres in the case of the Divo. In addition, the wheel arches are ventilated via slats on the wings.

The roof of the Divo has been designed to form a NACA air duct, a flow-optimized 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 key role in temperature management in this area of the vehicle.

The rear end of the Divo features a new, height-adjustable rear spoiler which functions as an air brake when turned forwards and is set to different angles for the individual driving modes. The rear spoiler has a width of 1.83 metres (72”) and is therefore 23 percent wider than on the Chiron. The wider spoiler improves efficiency and results in higher air brake performance as well as significantly more downforce. The total downforce generated is 456 kilograms, 90 kg more than on the Chiron.

The main objective of chassis development work was to improve cornering dynamics; the Divo was to be sharper, more agile and more nimble. For this purpose, the camber was increased. As a result the maximum speed of the Divo is limited to 380 km/h. In contrast to the Chiron, there is therefore no Top Speed mode. As regards lateral acceleration, the Divo reaches 1.6 g. These changes alone ensure a perceptibly different driving experience on winding roads.

One highlight at the rear of the vehicle is definitely the new, highly sophisticated 3-D rear light. This is actually part of the rear grille, which is partly produced by a 3-D printing process and has special lightweight fins with a variety of sizes. A total of 44 of these fins light up, forming the rear light of the Divo. At the outer edge, the fins become wider, creating a more intensive light.

“The Divo is a further example of our design philosophy ‘Form follows Performance‘. Said Achim Anscheidt, Director of Design of Bugatti Automobiles. “The Divo project was also a welcome opportunity for our team to add a modern chapter to the coachbuilding story of Bugatti which had been so successful in the early years of the brand. Our task was to develop a vehicle which would look different from the Chiron but still be immediately recognizable as a Bugatti. For us designers, this meant that the three key style elements of Bugatti had to remain in place: the horseshoe-shaped front grille, the typical Bugatti signature line along the sides of the vehicle and the characteristic fin that defines the longitudinal axis of the car when viewed from above, which was derived from the Type 57 Atlantic.”