Autocar

INSIDE THE FACTORY

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There’s a new ownership structure at Bugatti, but it shouldn’t make a difference to the customer experience. Rimac owns 55% and Porsche 45% of Bugatti Rimac. Rimac itself, meanwhile, is owned 35% by its founder Mate Rimac, 22% by Porsche, 11% by Hyundai and 32% by others.

What comes after the Chiron is down to 615 people: 300 in Croatia, 180 in Wolfsburg and 135 in Molsheim, Bugatti’s original and enduring home.

It’s here where cars are assembled, taking six weeks at a time and at a rate of around 70 per year. About 40 more Chirons were left to make when I visited, so production will stop in 2022.

There are old buildings and new. The service facility and assembly plant make up the new. Founder Ettore Bugatti never lived in the château, but he did host parties there. He kept stables, too, plus he had a building set aside for pilgrims; there had been a monastery on the site from the 1300s.

What strikes me as we tour the assembly plant is just how much needs putting together. I knew there was no foundry or carbonfibr­e facility, so I had imagined big modular lumps arriving. But there are small individual pipes and clips and intricate components to fit as the cars are built.

Bugatti “is very much part of the history of this area,” says Andy Wallace. “We’re dripping with German engineerin­g and will be with Croatian engineerin­g as well. But the way of the Chiron is: wherever you can get the best, that’s where it’s sourced from. So we have French tyres, a German engine, a gearbox from the UK, glass from Finland, leather from Austria, a carbonfibr­e tub from Italy...”

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