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So the neighbor dropped of her kids at school this morning in a 500-horsepower Porsche Panamera Turbo sedan this morning. How can you possible top her? Sure, you could wait for the Aston Martin Rapide, but no one’s sure it will be a better car. And you need to leave no doubt.

Bugatti’s got your back. Just call the bank, and free up $1.5 million.

Bugatti, an ultra-luxury division of Volkswagen is the builder of the Veyron coupe – one of just a handful of street-legal cars ever to top 250 mph, and the only one to do it in unparalleled luxury. A four-door modern Bugatti, one would have to expect, would be like nothing else on the road.

Enter the 16C Galibier. reports, “The Bugatti Galibier will be no ordinary luxury limousine…It will be the fastest, most powerful four door in the world.”

The design is like no other. writes, “The detail is mesmerizing.” The headlamps alone “speak volumes about the company’s century-long history and attention to detail.” But the most unique styling element would certainly be the dorsal “spine” running down the length of the vehicle. It “runs from the nose to the tail and intersects no fewer than three different body construction materials.” A prominent ridge running down the carbon fiber hood, it becomes “a polished metal rod supporting the mirror” and bisecting the windshield, resumes its place as a ridge atop the roof, then becomes a vertical taillight running the full length of the rear window. It visually connects the Galibier to the 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Atlantique – a legendary car we’re not blue-blooded enough to know much about.

Our favorite design detail, however, is the eight neat little tailpipes. Eight. Yes, the car features a sixteen-cylinder engine with a pair of superchargers on it; but rather than call attention to the powerplant with a garish window in the hood or other brash method, designers chose to demurely hint at it…and only to those the car has just passed.

That engine, the U.K.’s reports, “is the same 8.0-litre W16 engine found in the Veyron…the engine features two-stage supercharging and can run on ethanol as well as” conventional gasoline.”

In the Veyron, the powerplant is good for more than 1,000 horsepower. Autoblog reports, “Horsepower figures for the all-wheel drive Galibier have not been released, but Bugatti promises that when it arrives in the next few years, it will be the fastest and most powerful four-passenger sedan on the planet – and one stunning piece of fine art.”

notes, “Inside, there’s space for four and a large wooden dash that is dominated by two centrally mounted dials showing available power and speed.” Four separate seats are divided by a console running the length of the car. “A removable clock manufactured by Switzerland’s Parmigiani” sits in the center of the dash. Once removed, it can be mounted on a wristwatch.

Motor Authority reports that the Galibier is still considered “a design model being shown to clients and dealers.” No one will say for certain that it is headed for production, but Bugatti officials are said to be considering what their next step will be after Veyron production comes to an end in 2012. And, having built perhaps the world’s most extraordinary two-seat car, a four-seater may be the only logical step available to them.

Pricing has not been announced, but the low end of the estimates we have seen is around $1.5 million.

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