Volkswagen Group boss Ferdinand Piech revived the Bugatti brand in the late 1990s with one goal: to build a car that outdid everyone. With cars like the McLaren F1, the Porsche 959, and the Ferrari F40 already setting the benchmark, Bugatti needed their own statement. The target was 1,000 horsepower, a cost of one million euros, and a top speed over 400 km/h. The engineers thought it was impossible. They failed for eighteen months, Bugatti's project director was fired, and new leadership came in and rebuilt 95% of the car from scratch. Production eventually ran from 2005 to 2015, with 450 total units built.

The W16 engine that powers the Veyron is effectively two 4.0-litre V8s sharing a single crankshaft, a configuration that had never existed before in a production car. To illustrate just how fast this car is: if a Veyron started ten seconds after a McLaren F1, both cars would reach 200 mph at exactly the same time. That gap represents a decade of engineering progress, and the Veyron absorbed all of it. Despite weighing nearly 1,900 kg and producing more power than any F1 car at the time, Matt Prior of Autocar described it as surprisingly easy to drive around town, which is not something easily said about a 1,000 horsepower car. (4) Most high-horsepower cars are difficult to handle in normal conditions and the Veyron made it feel manageable. It was not cheap to run, with all four tires costing around 23,500 pounds and a routine service running 14,000 pounds, more than a Ferrari Enzo's annual bill. But that precision and cost was the point. The world did not need this car. Bugatti brought it anyway, and in doing so it defined its era, the era of record-breaking, luxury, and pure engineering horsepower.

(4) Prior, Matt. "Used Bugatti Veyron 2005-2015 Review." Autocar, August 6, 2014.