The 1350-horsepower Bugatti Centenaire.

The 1350-horsepower Bugatti Centenaire.

If you think you just couldn’t cut it with a mere 1001 horsepower, Bugatti’s got just the car for you, the new Centenaire. But getting one could prove a bit problematic.

Considering there are plans to build a grand total of one copy of the striking 2-seater, it’s hard to dispute the claim by Bugatti CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen that this is the “ultimate limited edition.”

The name, Centenaire isn’t a random choice. Even if you don’t speak French, you may realize that it’s designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the legendary automaker by its eponymous founder, Etiore Bugatti.

bugatti-v4Brought back from the dead by Volkswagen AG, Bugatti has been producing a handful of copies of the “base” Veyron, at the rate of barely one a week. That’s also not a random choice, as there aren’t many folks willing and able to pay more than a million Euros for the sports car.

How much the one-and-only Centenaire will go for was one of the many questions left unanswered during a Volkswagen event, Monday night, where the sports car was one of eight new models unveiled. Bugatti officials will be asked to resolve that and several other mysteries, on Tuesday morning, when they again pull the wraps off the Centenaire during the brand’s formal news conference at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show.

Even without official numbers, a leaked Bugatti document gives some solid clues as to what we can expect. Start with 1350 horsepower and 1018 pound-feet of torque, the latter a big jump from the standard 922 lb-ft. Look for 0-100 kmh (0-62.5 mph) times of around 2.4 seconds, or a tenth faster than the conventional, 1001 hp Veyron. Top speed has reportedly been bumped from 253.8 mph to something closer to 265 mph.

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