World’s Most Expensive Cars: Bugatti Veyron
Which expensive car is driven by celebrities Tom Cruise and Simon Cowell? What car is named after the racecar driver that won the 1939 24 Hour Lemans Race? Which car has the fastest acceleration time – going from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds? If you answered the Bugatti Veyron to all these questions, you are indeed correct.
As the priciest legal streetcar on the market today, the Bugatti isn’t for every driver’s bank account. The current sticker price is $1.7 million. Part of this is what is under the hood, the other part is the rarity of the vehicle – only 300 Bugatti Veyrons will be produced. If you are fortunate enough to be on the market for one, prepare for rigid requirements. Select qualified buyers must wire a $360,000 down payment to the Bugatti bank in France to just put a reserve on the car. Bugatti then runs the purchase application through a thorough background check by a French Security firm to ensure you can afford the remaining $1,340,000 – or more – which will be due when the car is completed. Buyers are also responsible for shipping charges from France, which average around $40,000. Even with these exacting purchase standards, by the end of 2008, over 200 Bugattis had already been sold, leaving fewer than 100 left for purchase.
The Bugatti Veyron is not only the most expensive car in production today; it is the ultimate display of success. The two passenger, all-wheel drive, grand touring coupe is complete with equipment that costs more than 80 percent of the off-the-lot cost of cars driven everyday around the world. The Veyron’s Burmeister sound system alone costs $50,000. Add to that custom tires hailed as the largest passenger car tires ever produced at a mere price of $50,000 and you begin to see why the Bugatti Veyron is so pricey. This is not including the costs of the Lear-Jet like cabin, suede trim, all leather seats, the PDA that loads vehicle data through a Bluetooth interface and seven-speed direct shift gearbox.
The Bugatti Veyron looks as if it were designed by an artist rather than engineers. With its torpedo like shape made of carbon and aluminum, owners of this expensive car will definitely garner attention. Unfortunately, like great artwork, insuring the world’s most expensive car also calls for expensive car insurance. Car insurance rates for the Bugatti Veyron vary, but expect to pay more than you do for your house payments.
The Bugatti Veyron is definitely not for everyone. Even the celebrity of car aficionados, Jay Leno, despite being awed by the impressive transmission told reporters the Bugatti, was a little too bling-bling’ for him. Not for Tom Cruise and Simon Cowell.
