Photo: Bugatti
If you’re in the market for an all-new automobile with sixteen cylinders, prepare to pony up in the millions for the Chiron. Or Chiron Sport. Or the Divo, which starts at €5 million without even looking through the options list.
In addition to the superlative qualities of the Divo, the quad-turbocharged W16 is what makes the driving experience unlike anything else in the automotive regnum, past and present. As for the future, not even Bugatti can keep this 8.0-liter monster relevant. Subsequent emissions standards after Euro 6d-TEMP are going to kill the engine off, and that would be the end of the story.
Except it isn’t. Speaking to Car Advice, chief executive officer Stephan Winkelmann let it slip “there is a race for more power, an ongoing battle, and everybody is looking for more and more.” Bugatti is interested in pushing the envelope as well, accepting that “hybridization is a good thing.”
Before the W16 meets its maker, Winkelmann made it clear the sixteen-cylinder engine would receive more suck-squeeze-bang-blow. "We are far out at Bugatti, far from being compared, but I think it [the output] still matters to many people.”
Regarding the post-W16 future of the French automaker controlled by the Volkswagen Group, the engineers are expected to come up with “a solution that is credible for the people who are buying Bugattis today.” Winkelmann highlighted that there’s a catch to this, as in reducing the level of emissions and the weight of the batteries to the extent that hybridization becomes feasible.
Turning our attention back to the engine, Bugatti will do its utmost “to keep it alive... but if you want to be on the edge with advanced technology, it’s important you choose the right moment to change.” Can you imagine how much the Chiron will be worth in two decades or so, when internal combustion as we know it today could go extinct?
France and the United Kingdom will ban fossil-fuel car sales by 2040, and Paris will ban fossil-fuel cars by 2030. India has set a target for 2030, Norway for 2025, and China is looking into the matter as well. Speaking of the world’s biggest polluter, China had hit its carbon target 12 years early before the due date agreed in the Paris climate accord.
Whichever way you look at it, electrification will become the standard whether we like it or not.
Except it isn’t. Speaking to Car Advice, chief executive officer Stephan Winkelmann let it slip “there is a race for more power, an ongoing battle, and everybody is looking for more and more.” Bugatti is interested in pushing the envelope as well, accepting that “hybridization is a good thing.”
Before the W16 meets its maker, Winkelmann made it clear the sixteen-cylinder engine would receive more suck-squeeze-bang-blow. "We are far out at Bugatti, far from being compared, but I think it [the output] still matters to many people.”
Regarding the post-W16 future of the French automaker controlled by the Volkswagen Group, the engineers are expected to come up with “a solution that is credible for the people who are buying Bugattis today.” Winkelmann highlighted that there’s a catch to this, as in reducing the level of emissions and the weight of the batteries to the extent that hybridization becomes feasible.
Turning our attention back to the engine, Bugatti will do its utmost “to keep it alive... but if you want to be on the edge with advanced technology, it’s important you choose the right moment to change.” Can you imagine how much the Chiron will be worth in two decades or so, when internal combustion as we know it today could go extinct?
France and the United Kingdom will ban fossil-fuel car sales by 2040, and Paris will ban fossil-fuel cars by 2030. India has set a target for 2030, Norway for 2025, and China is looking into the matter as well. Speaking of the world’s biggest polluter, China had hit its carbon target 12 years early before the due date agreed in the Paris climate accord.
Whichever way you look at it, electrification will become the standard whether we like it or not.
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