The last 16-cylinder Bugatti to ever be sold has set a new car auction price record, and it almost didn't exist.
The Profilée was designed as the prototype for a planned series of 30 special edition versions of the Chiron supercar.
It's a more luxurious take on the Chiron Pur Sport, which was one of the most hardcore performance versions of the 1,479 horsepower coupe.
That's not to say it isn't quick.
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While its top speed has been restricted to 232 mph – unlike other Chirons that can reach 261 mph and as much as 304 mph with their governors turned off – the Profilée is the quickest. It can accelerate to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds and reach 186 mph in 12.4 seconds.
However, while it was in development, Bugatti filled the order books for the limited run of 500 Chirons it said it would make, so it canceled the program before it began.
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Bugatti decided to go ahead and bring the pre-series car to completion as a street legal vehicle under European regulations, anyway.
Instead of selling it, the blue and black car was offered at the RM Sotheby's Paris auction, where it sold for 9,792,500 Euros, which is roughly $10.8 million. More run-of-the-mill Chiron models list in the $3.5 million range.
That breaks the record for a new car sold at auction, which was set in 2017 when a Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta went for 8.3 million Euros. That was equivalent to $10 million at the time, but it was charity auction, which could've skewed the result.
But the Profile still isn't the most expensive new car ever sold, just the most expensive auctioned. Bugatti doesn't mind, as that title also belongs to one of its cars.
The one of a kind Chiron-based La Voiture Noire was sold privately to a "Bugatti enthusiast" for 11 million Euros and a total of $18.9 million after all taxes and fees were added. The buyer's identity is still undisclosed, but Cristiano Ronaldo or former Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piëch are among the people it has been rumored to be.
The Chiron will be succeeded by an all-new Bugattti model that is yet to be revealed, but will trade its quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter engine for a smaller displacement motor with electric assist.
