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聽new supercar to succeed the Veyron聽. The new name was confirmed by the French automaker today, along with a 2016 Geneva Motor Show debut. Rumors of the Chiron name first emerged a year ago but Bugatti has remained tight on the name of the car until now.

Chiron is the name of a centaur in Greek mythology but also that of Bugatti racing driver Louis Alexandre Chiron, who was influential in building the brand鈥檚 legend in the early parts of the last century. This abstracted version of his signature will be found as stitching on the headrest of the new car.

Born in Monaco, Chiron started racing for Bugatti in 1928 and continued racing well after the original iteration of the firm folded in 1947 following the death of founder Ettore Bugatti. He was active in 1950鈥檚 inaugural season of Formula One, and also raced for the likes of Lancia and聽聽during his career, although he didn鈥檛 have much success outside Bugatti. He eventually retired from racing in 1958.

Although regarded a Bugatti Legend in his own right, Chiron was never honored with one of the recent six 鈥樷�� special edition Veyrons that marked the end of the car鈥檚 production. Now we know why.

Note, this isn鈥檛 the first time Bugatti has used the Chiron name. It previously featured on one of the original Giugiaro-penned concepts (pictured below) Bugatti rolled out in the late 1990s to preview the Veyron. Incidentally, the name Veyron comes from another Bugatti racing driver, Pierre Veyron.

Bugatti describes the new Chiron as the world鈥檚 most powerful, most luxurious and fastest production car. The company has already taken more than 100 orders for it, which is expected to be built in a run of 500 units. There were just 450 Veyrons including all the separate variants.

Currently, the Chiron is undergoing its final tests. A number of prototypes,聽, are on the road in several continents for the fine tuning of the vehicle, including on a variety of road and climate conditions鈥攕omething rare for exclusive supercars. Recall, the previous Veryon is a marvel not only because of its extreme performance but also because of its ability for everyday use.

Bugatti hasn't released many details on the Chiron. Power is expected to come from an uprated version of the Veyron鈥檚 quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W-16 but this time around there could be two versions: a standard and a more potent hybrid. The most powerful is expected to come with 1,500 metric horsepower, or about 1,480 regular hp.

The first press day for the 2016聽聽is scheduled for March 1. In the meantime, you can learn about other cars appearing at the event via聽.