Bah, Humbug: Bugatti's Gone Cold on Doing a Top Speed Run for The Chiron

The world has been waiting two years for the Bugatti Chiron to post a top speed run. We’ve been teased about it before, but now it looks all that teasing will be for naught. Bugatti has now closed the door on a top speed run for the Chiron. Word of the company’s decision on the issue comes straight from the mouth of CEO Stephen Winkelmann, who said that a top speed run isn’t in any of Bugatti’s priorities at the moment. Whether that position holds true or changes remains to be seen, but if you’re looking for a threat to the Koenigsegg Agera RS’ world record top speed of 277.8 mph, that conversation, at least for now, starts and ends with the Hennessey Venom F5. Bugatti’s not joining that party, much to the dismay of everyone.

The soap opera that is Bugatti’s quest for the little of fastest production car in the world is now on hiatus. It remains to be seen, though, if this is a temporary or permanent break from the quest that has largely defined Bugatti’s existence in the last decade. What’s clear at this point is that Bugatti CEO Stephen Winkelmann isn’t keen on bringing the Chiron to a long strip of road, fitting it with endurance tires, and setting it off on a top speed run. To me, a top speed run is not on the agenda,” Winkelmann told Motor Trend. “For me, performance has a lot of facets, and the Chiron besides being a hypercar is a car covering a lot more than other supersports cars.”

Winkelmann’s comments don’t really satisfy our thirst to see the Chiron try to post a recorded top speed, but we’ll give him his due this time because there’s nothing else we can do.Well, if the Chiron can “easily” do it, why not put all the speculation to bed and just do it already?

Lord knows what Bugatti’s reasons are, but I am beginning to wonder if the automaker’s reasons are far simpler than what we’re making it out to be. What if the Bugatti Chiron can’t beat the Koenigsegg Agera RS’ 277.8-mph top speed record? What if it’s really as simple as that?

It certainly isn’t the first time Bugatti’s hypercar has been humbled by its Swedish rival. Remember when Bugatti triumphantly posted a record-setting 0-249-0-mph time of 41.96 seconds back in September 2017, only for the Agera RS to destroy that record with a time of 36.44 seconds barely a month later? For a company that held the top speed record for so many years to suddenly get usurped by a newer and faster rival? That’s cause for tremendous embarrassment

Bugatti’s probably not going to admit, and why should it? Conceding a record as precious — at least in Bugatti’s eyes, it is — as the one the automaker held for so long isn’t something that Bugatti is keen on doing. So instead of admitting that the Agera RS is faster than the Chiron, we’re treated to this merry-go-round of will-it-or-wont-it that culminated in Bugatti finally saying that it’s not going to pursue the fastest car in the world title.

Whether that position holds or not is another question entirely. It’s possible that Bugatti could be biding its time as it develops a more extreme version of the Chiron that can beat the Agera RS. It already has the Bugatti Divo, but it’s essentially a Chiron-based supercar that sacrifices top speed for improved handling credentials. The Divo is unlikely to beat the Agera RS no more than the Chiron could. The automaker has been coy on giving details about a more extreme version of the Chiron, but if that’s the only way it can reclaim the top speed record from Koenigsegg, then don’t sleep on Bugatti heading back to the lab to work on that car.

For now, it doesn’t look like the Chiron is posting a top speed run anytime soon. It might end up never posting one, though that comes with the risk of people questioning what the car’s full potential is. Apparently, Bugatti’s willing to face those questions, at least for the time being. Unlike Bugatti, Hennessey isn’t shying away from the challenge. In fact, it’s already laid down the gauntlet with the promise to become the first automaker to have a car that can break 300 mph.

Now that Bugatti's out of the picture, we're all waiting for Hennessey to see if the Venom F5 can live up to the hype.