"Please, everyone, hold on. Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions. The rules of the competition in the video are as follows: our Bugatti Veyron and a MiG-29 jet will start from the same line on the same runway. They will both sprint in a straight line for one mile, which is 1.6 kilometers. Then, both must turn back at the one-mile mark and race to see who gets back to the finish line first. The winner is whoever arrives first."
Baptiste explained the original rules of the Bugatti vs. fighter jet race to the media and the tycoons in the audience. The rules were fair, with no tricks or intentional advantages. Everyone nodded in agreement, seemingly convinced. Their gazes then shifted to the large LCD screen in front of them.
The video showed an all-black Bugatti Veyron hard-top sitting motionlessly on an airstrip. Not far away, a Russian Air Force MiG-29 jet was waiting. A referee confirmed that the front of the Bugatti and the nose of the MiG were both perfectly aligned with the same starting line. All that was left was for the referee to wave the flag and start the race between these two monsters.
Half a minute later, the referee lifted the black-and-white checkered flag and waved it down. Instantly, the Bugatti Veyron and the MiG-29 jet roared to life! They both accelerated and shot forward in a straight line!
With a top speed of 434 km/h (270 mph) and a 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) acceleration time of just 2.5 seconds, the Bugatti had a clear advantage at the start. It immediately pulled ahead of the MiG and maintained a significant lead. It wasn't until about half a mile in that the jet finally caught up and overtook it.
Even through the screen, the audience could imagine the sheer power of the hot flames shooting out of the jet's tailpipe. By this point, the jet was already airborne, while the Bugatti Veyron was still tearing down the runway at full speed, pushing the limits of what a car could do as it approached the 800-meter turn-around point.
The real race was just beginning! The MiG-29 had to ascend to a certain altitude before it could turn in the air. The Bugatti's driver, meanwhile, had to perform an extremely precise maneuver to brake and turn around at the designated spot before racing back to the finish line.
The Bugatti Veyron's braking time from 100 km/h to zero was just 2.3 seconds. This incredible braking system had the audience and media staring with their mouths slightly agape. They were completely engrossed.
"It can stop on a dime at that speed? That braking system is insane, isn't it?"
"When it turned, I saw the car's tail spoiler pop up horizontally. Is that an air brake? What about the brake pads?" a few tycoons started whispering to each other.
You have to admit, Mawei's idea for this video was brilliant. In 2002, no other sports car would have been brazen enough to race a fighter jet. Even the heavily modified Porsche Carrera was about 10% slower at its top speed.
In the second half of the race, the Bugatti Veyron had already made its precise turn and was sprinting back to the finish line. The MiG jet in the air had also completed its turn and was now flying low, attempting to cross the finish line first.
In the end, the Bugatti Veyron finished 1.7 seconds behind the MiG-29. This was still an incredible achievement for the car. After all, one was a supersonic jet that measured its speed in Mach, while the other was a mid-engine, four-wheel-drive car. The fact that the gap was less than two seconds was truly astonishing.
Many of the tycoons in the inner circle, including the prince from Dubai, were now eager to find out how to buy this supercar and how much it would cost.
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"Now that you've all seen the video, let's talk about something you're all equally interested in: how we're going to sell it! The Bugatti Veyron will come in two versions, a hard-top and a convertible. We won't be limiting production worldwide, so you can buy as many as you want," Baptiste said into the microphone.
As soon as he finished, the Middle Eastern and American tycoons in the audience all tilted their heads, looking surprised and a little disappointed. For the wealthiest people in the world, a car without a limited production run loses its appeal. Since anyone with enough money can buy it, it has no real collection value. At its core, it's no different from the cars sold at a regular dealership; it's just a lot more high-end.
"So, how much is one Bugatti Veyron? We're already here, so we might as well just buy one and take it home," some of the wealthy attendees thought to themselves. Buying sports cars was a basic, everyday activity for them.
However, just as these top-tier tycoons were thinking this, Baptiste said something that took them completely by surprise. "While this Bugatti will be produced in unlimited quantities, its initial R&D costs were, to be honest, extremely high. To develop this new car, our chairman, Mawei, invested no less than $300 million. Therefore, the price for the entire vehicle is set at $10.4 million."
As soon as Bugatti CEO Baptiste announced the $10 million price tag, the tycoons in the audience froze, thinking they had misheard.
"$10.4 million? For a car? Is it really that expensive? The special edition Ferrari Enzo was only $2.7 million, right? And the Porsche Carrera GT was $2.55 million. This is four times the price?" one American tycoon asked, staring at the Bugatti Veyron on the stage in disbelief.
He could afford $10 million, but using it to buy a car was a huge amount for him. The most expensive cars he usually bought were just over $2 million, and the cheap ones were about $400,000. This was more than 20 times the price of a regular high-end sports car!
"No wonder they're not limiting the production. A price like this is enough to deter 99% of people, isn't it?"
"$10.4 million, that's nearly 90 million yuan! If I grit my teeth, buy it, and ship it back to China, with the 50% tariffs, plus VAT and consumption tax, it'll cost me 135 million yuan?!" a "rich second generation" from China calculated the price in his head, his vision going black.
Forget the 50% tariff; even the factory price of the Bugatti Veyron was almost more than he could handle. After all, his family had only given him a little over 50 million yuan and told him not to embarrass them by failing to bring the car back. But after hearing the price, he knew there was no way. He'd need three lots of 50 million to get his beloved car back to his home country. His dad would never agree to that.