Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo and Chiron showcars sold to Saudi Prince at Pebble Beach
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is one of the world's most prestigious motoring gatherings in the world, and quite naturally Bugatti rolled out the big guns for this year's event — bringing with them their Chiron show car and more notably their Vision Gran Turismo concept.
Thankfully for Bugatti, their pack-down process has become a lot simpler after a Saudi Prince decided both of their blue hypercars.
Prince Badr bin Saud is the buyer, and a quick glance of his Instagram account shows that the guy has impeccable taste. A Ford GT40, Lancia Stratos, Maserati Zagato Mostro, and a chrome Fiat 500 Abarth all feature — as do several garages packed with more 'conventional' financially-endowed-person-with-huge-car-collection cars.
The sale of the Vision is curious, given its status as a one-off functional car. As the name suggests, the incredible looking creature is a playable car in the latest Gran Turismo racing simulator on Sony's PlayStation. But unlike the majority of these 'fantasy' cars whipped up by manufacturers to gain young-people street cred, Bugatti actually went out and built one.
"Bugatti is delighted to announce that both the world premiere show car of the new Bugatti Chiron and the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo show car, the concept of which was developed for the upcoming video game “Gran Turismo Sport, conquered the heart of a car enthusiast and Bugatti lover from Saudi Arabia, who purchased both vehicles to become the crowns of his private car collection,” said the marque.
“The customer was awarded the contract after submitting the most convincing bid.”
What makes this curious is the fact that they've now offloaded it to a member of the public. You have to assume that the price he offered was one that could not be refused. ‘Most convincing bid’ indeed.
One positive to come out of this is that now that both cars are out of Bugatti's control, there's no stopping Badr bin Saud or anyone else from exploring their true capabilities and seeing how they really fare on a race track. Badr bin Saud, if you're reading this, feel free to give me a yell ...