Founded by Ettore Bugatti in 1909, ultra-luxury automaker Bugatti made a name for itself with its road cars, but came to prominence with its racing cars. The French automaker's original incarnation ceased to exist in 1952, only for Italian businessman Romano Artioli to revive the company in 1987.
Remember the EB 110 from 1991? The quad-turbo V12 supercar was Bugatti's first car in almost four decades. It served as inspiration for the Volkswagen Group's Ferdinand Piech, who masterminded the quad-turbo W16 hypercar we all know and love.
2015 was the final year of the Veyron. The subsequent Chiron failed to make as big of a splash as the Chiron did, partly because Bugatti had already surpassed the 1,000-horsepower mark with the Veyron Super Sport and Grand Sport Vitesse.
Be that as it may, Chiron proved to be a bigger commercial success than its predecessor. Just over 500 units were produced through October 2023. In preparation for the Chiron's demise, big kahuna Mate Rimac announced that Bugatti's trademark quad-turbocharged W16 would be discontinued.
Many rumors later, the Molsheim-based automaker confirmed that a free-breathing V16 would power the Chiron's replacement. Based on photos uploaded by Mate Rimac on his Instagram, we're dealing with a cross-plane crankshaft. Even so, the mysterious engine is a high-revving son of a gun that would make the LT6 of the Z06 blush in awe.
Photo: Bugatti
Gifted with a carbon-fiber intake manifold that sports no fewer than four throttle bodies, the V16 is rumored to be a Cosworth-developed engine. Given the Aston Martin Valkyrie, Gordon Murray T.50, and the T.33, it sure makes plenty of sense. Hearsay suggests 1,000 ponies for the engine, plus 1,000 horsepower from the hybrid side of the powertrain.
Already shown to prospective customers, the yet-unnamed model has been recently teased by Mate Rimac on Instagram. The car hiding under the cover is – without a shadow of a doubt – the production specification rather than a full-size mockup.
Plebs like you and me will see the 2,000-horsepower model in the flesh in June 2024. In a similar fashion to most BMW debuts, it goes without saying that leaked photos will eventually spoil the scheduled premiere. Mate Rimac and Bugatti won't care, though. Unverified reports indicate that most of the 250 planned vehicles have been spoken for. If proven true, it shouldn't come as a surprise given that absolutely nothing compares to a Bugatti in the realm of high-performance exotica.
We also have to remember that Bugatti coming out with a naturally aspirated V16 in this day and age is a middle-finger salute to downsizing, electric vehicles, and – of course – the legislators that pushed automakers into embracing low-displacement engines and EVs.
On that note, production is expected to kick off in 2026. Pricing estimates vary like crazy, with some publications reporting 3.6 million euros and others going as far as 5.0-plus million euros or more than 5,462,750 dollars at current exchange rates.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News