It's been less than ten months since the first examples of the Bugatti Chiron started rolling out of the factory in Molsheim. In that time, Bugatti has produced 70 examples for eagerly awaiting customers.
That's an average of... carry the two, divide by the square root of Pi... seven per month. And the waiting list is even longer. So unless your build slot is coming up soon, chances are you'd have to wait a long time to have one delivered from the factory.
So what's a prospective buyer to do if he (or she) is late to the game, and wants one right now? Buy one second hand, that's what. The trouble is that, with so few made, they don't come available all that often. But there's one about to hit the auction block – right here in America, no less.
The Chiron you see here – decked out in black and blue with just 249 “delivery miles” on the clock – isn't being handled by RM Sotheby's, Gooding, Bonhams, or Artcurial – auction houses that are typically entrusted with handling such high-value automobiles. This one's being offered by Mecum Auctions, which tends to specialize more in classic American muscle.
That will make the Chiron an undoubted (if unusual) highlight of the upcoming sale in Kissimmee, Florida, where it will cross the block on Saturday, January 13. But then there'll also be a yellow LaFerrari being auctioned at the same event – Mecum having notably sold another at Pebble Beach in August 2016 for over $5 million.
Short of gazing into a crystal ball, we couldn't tell you how much it will sell for, but you can be sure it'll be somewhere in the seven-figure range – and not at the low end of it, either.