It’s been almost a decade since Bugatti rolled out the 1,001 hp Veyron in 2005. The pet project of the VW Group empire Ferdinand Piech is officially the fastest production car on the planet – and sales haven’t been too shabby, either.

As a matter of fact, in spite of the early plan to produce just 300 coupes, the Veyron got a stay of execution with the introduction of the targa-top Grand Sport in 2008. So, even though the coupe production ceased in 2011, the Grand Sport and Vitesse open tops are still rolling of the line.

That won’t be for much longer, though. Bugatti CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer told CAR magazine that the company has built 442 Veyrons and, since the plan calls for production to stop at 450 units, there are only eight cars left unsold.

Does this mean that the production line at its Molsheim plant in France, where the Veyron is built at a rate of one per week, will remain idle until the hypercar’s successor, tentatively named Chiron, is introduced?

Not necessarily, even though the Chiron is scheduled for a late 2015 or even 2016 launch. “There will be no downtime, we need to get ready with the pre-series cars to support the launch of the next car”, said Dürheimer.

The “next car” is expected to be powered by the same quad-turbocharged, 8.0-liter W16 engine that’s used in the Veyron but with increased oomph, beating even the Super Sport’s 1,200hp.

Bugatti, like many a premium car maker before her, is also getting into the merchandise business by launching its first “lifestyle boutique” in Knightsbridge, London. “it is the perfect city for the first store”, commented Bugatti’s CEO. “There is no metropolitan area in the world where more Veyrons have been sold”. An estimated 55 Bugattis have been sold in the UK capital.

“The circle of people who can own such a car is very exclusive, but the circle of people who are fascinated with our brand is very big”, he added. So, the lifestyle boutique, the first of the 30 or so that will open around the world, offers products ranging from £100 cufflinks to £250,000 watches. So far, there has been no report of a Barbie driving a toy Veyron…

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