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Production chronology2005–2011
Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.
limited_edition_research ↗7 years
← Bugatti
Bugatti / Model record
BugattiVeyron
Production2005–2011
Recorded originFrance
ClassSports car
Also known asBugatti Veyron EB 16.4
Power987 hp
Built252 units
Production
252
confirmed units built
every.autos editorialconfidence: high
The car built to do the impossible number: 400 km/h, in something you could drive to dinner.
When Volkswagen revived Bugatti, it set an engineering target that bordered on absurd: a road car with more than a thousand horsepower that could exceed 400 km/h and still be docile enough to potter through town. The Veyron met it. In 2005 it became the first production car to break 400 km/h, recording a two-way average of 407 km/h — about 253 mph.
Doing that required a powertrain unlike anything else on sale: an 8.0-litre W16 — effectively two V8s sharing a crankshaft — fed by four turbochargers, making 987 hp. Cooling it took ten radiators; at top speed it would drain its fuel tank in minutes. The car weighed 1,888 kg yet hid its mass completely.
Only 252 of the original Veyron 16.4 coupe were built. It didn't just set a speed record — it reset the definition of what a road car could be engineered to do.
Written and fact-checked for every.autos · every claim checked against the sources below · 2026-07
Background
The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti, and manufactured in Molsheim, France by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pierre Veyron.
Text adapted from “Bugatti Veyron” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ · retrieved 2026-07
Chronology ledger
Dates with their meaning intact
US EPA model years2006–2015
Model years represented in FuelEconomy.gov; a US-market observation, not a worldwide production range.
EPA FuelEconomy.gov ↗Observed bounds
Canadian NRCan model years2010–2012
Model years in Natural Resources Canada retail fuel-consumption data; Canadian-market evidence, not a worldwide production range.
Natural Resources Canada ↗3 years
Research notes
Base 16.4 variant only (252 of ~450 Veyrons built across all variants including Super Sport/Grand Sport — Super Sport tracked as a separate catalog entry). First production car to exceed 1,000 PS; held the production-car speed record.