Meet Bugatti’s cheapest ‘car’ yet!

Bugatti Type 35 Baby II is a three-quarter-scale racer perfect for you and your kids

Ever craved a certain expensive car, realised you’d never be able to afford it and bought a scale model or toy version instead? Well, Bugatti would surely fit that bill – I remember an article a short while back that sensationally reported that a Bugatti Veyron oil change would cost as much as actually buying a basic car. It went viral of course.

If spending £1-3 million on a luxury car is out of your budget, then you might be interested to hear that Bugatti has teamed up with the Little Car Company to offer a battery-powered Bugatti Type 35, the car that proved to be Bugatti’s most successful racing car. In fact, the Type 35 won more than 1,000 races following its introduction in 1924. To put the car in perspective for the modern age, last year a Type 35 sold at Sotheby’s for around £343,000. The scaled-down car will be called the Bugatti Baby II and cost from £27,000.

The Baby II will be an all-electric version of the classic racer, sized at 75% of the original Type 35 and will form part of the manufacturer’s 110th-anniversary celebrations. With a gentle nod towards Christmas, the baby racer is designed to be able to be driven by both adults and children alike.

The Baby II is a faithful reproduction, with 8-spoke alloys, and resplendent in the original Type 35 French Racing Blue, though alternative colours can be specified. Even the suspension and steering have been accurately reproduced. The only visible concession to modern electric power seems to be the Veyron power gauge, which sits in the aluminium dashboard along with the speedo and battery level indicator. The original Type 35 had a tachometer plus oil pressure and fuel level gauges.

Power comes from a rear-wheel-drive lithium battery powertrain and a choice of either 1.4 or 2.8kWh options are available – the latter giving a range of around 20 miles. It features LSD and regenerative braking, plus two power modes: Child and Adult. In the 1kW Child mode, the Baby II has a top speed of 12mph, while the 4kW Adult mode increases this to 30mph and 5.34bhp. An optional 10kW ‘Speed Key’ upgrade increases power to 13.4bhp while also disengaging the speed limiter. In the latter mode, speeds of up to around 50mph are possible. The Baby II is 2.8m long, 1m wide and weighs in at 230kg without an occupant. The little Bugatti also features a remote control, which has the ability to disable the car from a distance of up to 50 metres – a worthy safety feature for peace of mind.

Inside, there is a wood-rim steering wheel and a seat is finished in fine leather, along with a plaque displaying the model’s unique chassis number. On the bonnet is a 50g solid silver ’Macaron’ badge as per the Chiron.

If you are thinking you might have a child worthy of such a fine Christmas present, then you will need to act fast; the three-quarter size hand-built Baby II EV is limited to a run of just 500 models and advance orders are sure to snap these up pretty quickly. Each advance order placed in 2019 will also come with a Bugatti 110th anniversary badge. While the prototype is up-and-running, deliveries are expected to roll out from 2020. While £27,000 is still a lot of money, let’s face it, nothing ‘Bugatti’ is ever cheap – even a Lego Bugatti Chiron will cost you around £250.