Not long after a trio of mysterious
Bugatti Chiron prototypes arrived at the O.R. Tambo airport in Johannesburg,
South Africa, an intriguing Chiron has been filmed testing on the roads of the
country. It could be the rumored Chiron R model.
The first thing to note about the Bugatti
prototype in question is that it appears to feature slightly re-shaped
headlights that look a little slimmer than those of the standard Chiron.
Admittedly, this could just be the camera playing tricks on us.
Of more interest than the headlights is
the fact that this Chiron has a front bumper clearly different than any other
Chiron or Chiron-based model. It adopts enlarged air intakes and sharp intake
surrounds that appear similar to what you’ll find on the Chiron Super Sport
300+, albeit slightly smaller. There are no obvious differences across the
hypercar’s rear fascia.
What does Bugatti have up its sleeve?
Well, if we were to bet, we’d say that the prototype in question is for a
rumored lightweight version of the vehicle, potentially dubbed the Chiron R. A
darkened teaser image of this car was presented earlier in the month and at
least one other prototype snapped in South Africa recently appeared to be
outfitted with a towering rear wing.
At the start of this year, Bugatti chief
executive Stephan Winkelmann confirmed the French automaker will launch more
derivatives of the Chiron. The R will likely prove to be the most track-focused
variant although it remains to be seen if it will out-perform the Bugatti Divo.
