The Bugatti EB 218 saloon is the second concept car presented by Bugatti under the ownership of the Volkswagen Auto Group. The EB 218 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also designed the EB 112, the car's predecessor and the EB 118, the car's 2-door variant. The EB 218 can be considered as an update of the EB 112, a concept saloon introduced by Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1993. The EB 218 features Volkswagen's unconventional

W18 engine W18, W-18 or W.18 may refer to : * W18 engine, a type of engine * Hansa-Brandenburg W.18, a Hansa-Brandenburg aircraft * 1-(4-Nitrophenylethyl)piperidylidene-2-(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonamide (W-18), a designer drug A designer drug is a structural ...

and

permanent four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

borrowed from the

Lamborghini Diablo VT The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance Mid-engine design, mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess ...

Design

Bugatti commissioned

Giorgetto Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted ...

Italdesign Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best kno ...

to update the EB 112 concept that he designed for Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1993. The EB218's wheelbase measures and it has a total length of . This makes the EB 218 longer that the EB 112 by . The most notable visual differences between the EB 218 and the EB 112 is a redesigned hood, bumpers and lights. The overall design is far less controversial than the EB 112's "Droopy

hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

-saloon" design and has a much more of a typical saloon shape rather than the EB 112's

shape. The interior design is very simple yet extremely luxurious, with beige leather seats and a large wooden dashboard which manages to keep all the instruments and vents "composed". The EB 218 draws inspiration from the classic Type 101 Guillore.

Debut

Bugatti introduced the EB 218 at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, one year after its 2-door counterpart was introduced at the 1998

Paris Auto Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

Powertrain

The EB 218 uses the same

and permanent

four wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

powertrain that debuted in the 1998 EB 118. The same technology was used in the 1999 18/3 Chiron concept car. Power comes from a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

-designed, and ,

. This engine design was extremely unconventional due to the unusual firing order of the engine. The EB 218 W18 engine is composed of three banks of six cylinders with a sixty degree offset between each cylinder bank. In contrast, the

W16 engine A W16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder piston engine with four banks of four cylinders in a W configuration. W16 engines are rarely produced, with the notable exception of the Volkswagen Group 8.0 WR16 engine, which has been used since 2005 in the ...

in Bugatti's (Under Volkswagen ownership) first production car, the 2005 Veyron EB 16.4 features four banks of four cylinders. The EB 218 has the permanent all-wheel drive taken from the

sports car.

References

External links

*
Motor1.com. Bugatti ID 90 And EB 112, EB 118, EB 218: Concept We Forgot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bugatti Eb218 All-wheel-drive vehicles Retro-style automobiles 1990s cars Bugatti concept vehicles