First stage of Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo project to be developed by video game giants
Following the sale of the 450th and final Veyron earlier this year, Bugatti is embarking on a new chapter in its history, which is to reach its climax with the presentation of the next Bugatti super sports car.
The first stage in the process will be a virtual project developed by the luxury super sports car brand in cooperation with Polyphony Digital Inc., creators of the Gran Turismo video game franchise.
For the first time, Bugatti will be represented in the “Vision Gran Turismo” category. This will make the extremely exclusive brand available to millions of car fans and Bugatti enthusiasts throughout the world. In addition, the “Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo” project will give an outlook of Bugatti’s new form and design language.
This virtual project is to be presented at the 2015 International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt.
“Bugatti is the world’s most exclusive super sports car brand and Bugatti cars are only available to an extremely small group of automobile connoisseurs,” says Wolfgang Dürheimer, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
“At the same time Bugatti is admired and loved by countless people throughout the world. We highly appreciate this enthusiasm.
“The ‘Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo’ will make our brand available to them as well as to gamers and high-performance aficionados throughout the world, only very few of whom will be able to afford a real Bugatti. They can all benefit from the success of our brand. This is a project for our fans.”
The Veyron series, which was limited to 450 vehicles and is now sold out, has been delivered to a small group of selected customers. This is in contrast with millions of Gran Turismo fans, the PlayStation franchise having enjoyed over 70 million units sold since its inception in 1997.
“For Bugatti, cooperation with Polyphony Digital is the perfect opportunity to make the brand accessible to a large number of people of all generations,” Dürheimer adds.
“I was thrilled and surprised that such a revered, traditional brand as Bugatti shares my passion and vision for ‘Gran Turismo’,” says Kazunori Yamauchi, Senior Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment and President of Polyphony Digital, who created what is probably the world’s most successful video racing franchise.
“Bugatti has developed an exciting concept for ‘Vision Gran Turismo’, and naturally it is a high-performance vehicle with a fascinating design. The level of attention to detail shown in the technical implementation by Bugatti has really impressed me.”
“With the ‘Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo’, we have not developed a fantasy product of the type which is normally seen in this category of the game,” explains Achim Anscheidt, head of the Bugatti design team. “We had the clear goal of developing a vehicle which could also be driven on a real race circuit if it left the virtual world. ‘Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo’ stands for authenticity.”
With the “Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo” virtual concept, Bugatti will be presenting the new form and design language developed by the brand to celebrate the next chapter in its history following the end of the Veyron era.
“Bugatti’s design DNA has reached a new stage in its evolution,” Anscheidt announces. “In view of the nature of the project, our concept car for ‘Vision Gran Turismo’ will be exaggerated and extremely performance-oriented. Even so, the progressive design language will give an impressive demonstration of the path to be taken by Bugatti design over the next few years.”
