A true one-off Bugatti has set a record for the highest price paid for a new car at auction.
The car is the Bugatti Chiron Profilée that the French performance marque revealed last month. It went under the hammer on Wednesday at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Paris, where it sold for 9,792,500 euros (approximately $10.77 million), including the buyer’s premium.
The price is double the pre-auction estimate, and that’s a good thing as Bugatti plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to charity. It also smashes the previous record for a new car sold at auction, which was the $7 million paid in 2016 for the 500th Ferrari LaFerrari. When it comes to the highest price paid for any car at auction, the title goes to the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that sold for 135 million euros ($148.5 million) in 2022.
Unike most one-off cars, the Chiron Profilée was developed with the view to offer multiple examples. It was developed in response to Bugatti customers seeking a tamer, more elegant version of the hardcore, track-focused Chiron Pur Sport launched in early 2020. However, higher than expected demand for the Chiron in general meant all 500 build slots for the hypercar were already accounted for before the Chiron Profilée could be brought to market.
The Chiron Profilée that was sold is actually a pre-production unit that has been made legal to drive on public roads in Europe. As a pre-production unit, it’s not included in the 500-unit build run for the Chiron.
Unique to the car is its small ducktail spoiler, which together with a revised front lip spoiler helps to generate sufficient downforce for the Profilée (the Chiron Pur Sport has a huge 6-foot-wide rear wing). The name of the car is derived from the rear spoiler. It’s a nod to one of Jean Bugatti’s first creations, the Type 46, which was nicknamed the Superprofilée and featured a rear section with its own flick in the tail.
Power comes from the familiar quad-turbo 8.0-liter W-16, tuned here to deliver the same 1,480 hp as the Pur Sport. It helps the Profilée accelerate from 0-62 mph in 2.3 seconds, from 0-124 mph in 5.5 seconds, and on to a top speed of 236 mph, which is faster than the Pur Sport. It tops out at 217 mph.
