Stephen Winkelmann says Bugatti will not build an SUV

Finally, there will be no Bugatti SUV, at least not immediately

It seems that where I said “I say,” I now say that Stephen Winkelmann claims the brand he has led since early 2018, Bugatti, will not produce an SUV.

The statement runs head-on into the old rumour that has been circulating for years, mainly on the largest public square ever known. Online, on specialist forums, alleged customers, journalists and “sources close to” the company insisted that the arrival of a Bugatti SUV was more than a reality.

Winkelmann also deserves some fairness, since the rumour mill launched the idea of a Bugatti SUV before he arrived. It was only later, once the German had become the brand’s top executive, that he declared there would be surprising projects within the Bugatti range, without denying or confirming anything about a crossover.

The most exclusive brands, for or against SUVs

And in the controversial debate over whether SUVs belong in high-performance ranges tied to luxury, manufacturers take sides for or against.

Brands such as Porsche set precedents with the Cayenne. Afterwards, others jumped on the SUV bandwagon, such as Maserati with its Levante, and, sooner rather than later, we will see with our own eyes the most outrageous model ever built by the prancing horse marque, the Ferrari SUV.

Some brands argue that SUVs, the Sport Utility Vehicles, fit into their line-ups without any effort, like Cinderella’s foot in her lovely glass slippers. The reality is that the SUV trend is now highly profitable.

Brands like Lamborghini know this well: after the economic setback caused by the monstrous LM002 of the mid-1980s, they have since last year added the Lamborghini Urus to their catalogue, an SUV with heart-stopping performance for a customer base for whom their more “traditional” sports cars are no longer as appealing or useful as a crossover.

Manufacturers with principles

And in this case, Stephen Winkelmann himself has said he sees no place for an SUV in the current Bugatti line-up. A brand that needs no entry-level vehicles and does not do things by halves, which is why, and because “There will be no Bugatti SUV. An SUV would do justice neither to the brand nor to its history,” the CEO of Bugatti declared.

The brand’s customers apparently do not need a Bugatti SUV. Nor does the company itself need an SUV among its models on sale.

Something similar to what we recently heard from another maker of rolling dreams. According to its head of design, McLaren will not build an SUV. The reasons are similar to those set out by Bugatti.

Neither the British nor the French manufacturer can see how they could adapt the philosophy of both brands to a product as controversial as an SUV.

What would have a place is a new model or variant even more extreme and exceptional than the Bugatti Divo, and no, we are not referring to the Bugatti Chiron in Lego. We mean another piece of craftsmanship capable of sitting even further above the exclusivity of these two models.

And we can think of no better place or event than the Geneva Motor Show, taking place between 5 and 17 March, for a new member of the family. That said, this new model will certainly not be a Bugatti SUV.