Perhaps, like me, you have a voice in your head screaming ‘too much, too impractical, too expensive, too unattractive, just too darn silly” – but I’d urge you to crush those thoughts and accept and celebrate the Bugatti Chiron, primarily for the technical tour de force that it is, and also because it remains the poster car for the majority of the next generation of car lovers.

Of course, it is excessive, and no doubt a vast proportion will end up in the garages of people who feel the need to flaunt their success that makes it clear that they really are that bit richer than the next richest man or woman. Their money, their choice.

However - and I write as someone who once drove a Veyron Vitesse at 201mph on a test track after spending a day sampling its limits on the roads - neither the over-the-top capabilities of the car or the image of the buyers should detract from a love for what the Chiron can do, and especially the engineering know-how that makes the Chiron so capable.

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Those eyebrow raising figures aren’t just the result of turning everything up to 11 and spending more, but of genuinely pioneering engineering. The Chiron may be an evolution of what’s gone before in many respects, but that alone is enough to be pushing boundaries in several directions. And experience of the Veyron suggests that the end result will be considerably more beguiling that the blunt numbers suggest to drive.

Finally, nobody should discount the need for the car industry to have cars that get kids excited. The Veyron did just that, and I’ve no doubt that our website is exploding as they and the next generation on get excited about the Chiron. Enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes of course, but it is cars like this that capture the most imaginations. Without them, today’s new car line-up would be poorer – and tomorrow’s poorer still.

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