So you and your kids have more money than you know what to do with. You lucky, lucky people. If you’re looking for ways to squander your Insta-fortune, Bugatti has a little something for you consider. Called the Baby II, Bugatti’s new electric vehicle (EV) has been designed with shorter, school-aged drivers in mind. The R471,500 price tag? That’s… pretty grown up.
Baby II is based on the original Baby, a limited run vehicle for kids (from the age of about four) produced and sold by the company from 1927 to 1936 (when children probably started driving around the age of three). There were only 500 of the mini-Type 35 Bugattis made and the high-end car making will be emulating that number with the Baby II.
Baby, don’t hurt me
The EV is a three-quarter sized Bugatti Type 35, the same design used for the 1924 French Grand Prix, but while the design might be almost a century old, the internals are not. There’s regenerative braking, a limited-slip diff, and removable lithium ion battery packs. It’s a far cry from what was available at the start of the 20th century but could be considered essential bits nowadays. Each wheel has brakes (what were we doing to older race drivers, folks?), the wheels are aluminium alloy and the final Baby II will also ship with headlights.
Bugatti had to point this out, since the headlights aren’t visible in any current images, or on the vehicle shown at the Geneva Motor Show. Also not shown (in detail) are the leather seats, custom instrument panel, or four-spoke Bugatti steering wheel.
As far as driving goes, the vehicle ships with two modes. There’s a 1kW kids mode that has a top speed of 20km/h and a slightly faster 4kW adults mode (provided you fit in the cockpit) that tops out at 45km/h. If you’ve got the money and/or inclination, there’s an optional upgrade that gives drivers 10kW of power to play with. The so-called Speed Key upgrade also removes the speed limiter. Perhaps not ideal for the kiddies, no matter how hard they flex in the ‘Gram.
Want one? You’re going to need R500k and an appointment, and you’re going to have to beat out a few other overly rich people in order to snag on of the limited-to-500 production units. We will continue to admire this one from afar.
Source: Bugatti
