A Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, one of the final variants of the maker's hyper sports car.

By whatever definition you use, there are few more exotic and exclusive automotive brands on the planet – and Bugatti plans to keep it that way when it finally wraps up production of the Veyron “hypercar” next year.

Among other things, that means fans can write off plans to put the well-received Galibier concept into production.  According to Bugatti’s President, Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber, the next car to come from the Volkswagen subsidiary will follow the same basic strategy as the Veyron.  And that will mean another super-fast, and extraordinarily expensive sports car.

“We have talked many, many times about the Galibier, but this car will not come because…it would confuse our customers,” Dr. Schreiber told the British magazine Top Gear. “Everyone knows that Bugatti is the ultimate super sports car. It’s easier for current owners, and others who are interested, to understand if we do something similar to the Veyron [next]. And that is what we will do. There will not be a four-door Bugatti.”

The Bugatti Galibier concept once seemed likely to reappear as the Bugatti Royale.

Reviving a long-dormant manufacturer originally founded in 1906 by Italian industrialist Ettore Bugatti, the first modern offering made its debut in 2003 as the Bugatti EB 16-4 Veyron.  In its original form, the Veyron churned out just over 1,000 horsepower and could reach a top speed of 253 miles per hour.

(What’s it like nudging 253 in a Bugatti? Click Here to find out.)

It was original offered at just over $1 million, though inflation, exchange rates and other factors have pushed the price up substantially – even as the car’s horsepower has also risen to 1,200 or more, on spin-offs models that can push to $3 million or more.

During the 47 years the original, French-based Bugatti operated the company produced barely 6,000 vehicles.  The Volkswagen-owned Bugatti was originally planning to produce about one car a week, or 500 in total. And now that it has nearly reached that limit there are plenty of questions about what might come next.  Indeed, that has been a question that Bugatti officials have been asking themselves.

The 2009 Galibier concept seemed, until now, to be one of the primary options.  It maintained many of the basics of the Bugatti formula: an incredibly over-the-top design, a four-digit horsepower number and neck-snapping acceleration able to get you from to 60 in barely over 2 seconds.  The big difference: the ability to seat four with an extra set of doors for a real back seat.

But a hyper sedan now is off the table.

(Bugatti rolls out the latest in its Legends series. Click Here for a closer look.)

Surprisingly, so is the idea of delivering still more power from a final, special-edition Veyron, Bugatti President Schreiber ruling out a “SuperVeyron,” noting “There will be no more power. 1200PS is enough for the chapter of Veyron and its derivatives,” a reference to the German equivalent of horsepower.”

So, what next? Beyond suggesting the Veyron replacement will be another hyper sports car, Schreiber wasn’t saying.  Nor would be indicate if the new Bugatti will be ready by the time the last of the current models is produced.

(Meet the world’s fastest production car. Hint: it’s not a Bugatti. Click Here for more.)

That doesn’t stop – indeed, it encourages – plenty of speculation.  One of the most intriguing would suggest that the next Bugatti will take a page out of the Formula One playbook, which also means echoing moves by mere supercar makers like Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche.  Don’t be surprised, contends Top Gear, to see the next hypercar use some sort of hybrid-electric drive system to help it improve efficiency under normal driving conditions while giving it a massive boost when a driver finds the opportunity to push their right foot to the floorboard.