FEATURES: Eight Great Volkswagen-Italdesign Collaborations(1999)

1999 Bugatti 18/3 Chiron
This wasn't Italdesign's first stab at a Bugatti coupe -- but it was the first true step in creating today's incredible 16.4 Veyron.

Although Italdesign had styled a number of Bugatti concepts (including the 112, 118, and 218 sedans) while Romano Artioli owned the firm, none really impressed Volkswagen, which purchased the company in 1998. Instead of developing another large luxury sedan, VW commissioned Italdesign to craft a Bugatti supercar to succeed the EB110.


Built upon the chassis of a Lamborghini Diablo VT, the 18/3 Chiron -- unveiled at the 1999 Frankfurt Motor Show -- was an aggressive, angular beast of a supercar. Power -- all 555 horsepower -- was derived from a 6.3-liter W-18 engine, displayed to the world thanks to an exposed engine cover. The interior was remarkably basic, although it was trimmed in saddle-colored leather with blue accents.

At the time, Volkswagen officials suggested a version of the Chiron would be launched at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show, and could potentially reach production by 2002. This time around, VW honored its word: the 16/4 Veyron concept shown in Japan was visually (if not mechanically) similar to the Veyron EB 16.4 that went into production in 2004.

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source by automobi

FEATURES: Eight Great Volkswagen-Italdesign Collaborations

The ink on the marriage license is still drying, but Volkswagen and Italdesign-Giugiaro -- which officially merged earlier this week -- are hardly strangers. In fact, the two firms have been courting one another for nearly four decades.


Any Volkswagen nut will be happy to tell you that Italdesign founder and chief designer Giorgetto Giugiaro helped style the original Passat, Golf/Rabbit, and Scirocco, but we've delved a little further into the Italdesign archives to see how deep this relationship truly runs. We've rounded up eight great VW-Italdesign collaborations for you here -- while some are simply rolling sculpture, others have had a profound influence on Volkswagen history.
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Cannonball: Wall Street Bankers Partake in Road Rally as Performance Bonus

If you're an investment banker, how do you unwind from the stresses of derivative swaps, ethics investigations, and a weakened economy? The answer, it seems, is to blitz your way through Vermont in an expensive supercar along with 13 of your buddies -- and inevitably, get busted by the fuzz.

Reports are still somewhat sketchy, but it appears several top-performing investment bankers from an offshore investment company were rewarded with a special road trip inspired by the Cannonball Run. A road trip from New York City to Montreal was arranged, allowing participants to view the recent Canadian Grand Prix. Over 14 high-performance vehicles, including several Lamborghinis and a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren -- were rented from a New York company for the trip, which quickly became a high-speed road rally.


On the evening of June 11, the Vermont State Police received a call reporting a group of supercars was traveling at excessive speeds. The SLR was pulled over, but its driver somehow managed to avoid getting a citation.

Another banker wasn't so lucky. Spencer Lodge was clocked by an officer doing nearly 104 mph in a Lamborghini LP560 Spyder, and was arrested on the spot. A plea arrangement forced Lodge to pay $881 in fines and was released from police custody.

Police aren't finished, though -- authorities in Vermont say additional charges may be in the works for the other drivers. In an interview with WCAX, Lt. Bob Stebbins noted these may not be simple speeding tickets -- a number of participants may be charged criminally based upon the dangerous driving involved.

Sources: NBC Today, WCAX.com