Bugatti’s Next Chapter
The final Bugatti Chiron has only just been built, number 500, so it is now time to reveal the future of Bugatti, the first new model after Rimac got involved with this legendary hypercar brand, and this materialized into the Bugatti Tourbillon, the successor to the Bugatti EB110, the Veyron, and the Chiron, and the new Tourbillon packs some serious power … a combined output of no less than 1,800 hp!
The Engine’s Got Major Power
The Bugatti Tourbillon comes with a brand new engine, the W16 from the Veyron and Chiron have been discontinued, and a new V16 engine has taken over, delivering 1,000 hp on its own already, but there is more, the Tourbillon comes with three electric motors, two on the front axle and one on the rear axle, adding another 800 hp into the mix for a total of 1,800 hp, and while there is about 200 kg worth of batteries added to the Tourbillon, she still puts down less weight than the 1,995 kg of the Chiron, and that’s an amazing feat for sure.
The new Bugatti V16 engine has a displacement of 8.3 liters and can reach a screaming 9,000 rpm, created with the help of Cosworth, this naturally aspirated ICE features a crankshaft that is 1 meter long, which’s a big engine to fit into a car that is just a long as the outgoing Bugatti Chiron, an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission is equipped to get that 1,000 hp onto the road.
Analog in a Digital World
I guess many were afraid the Bugatti Chiron successor would just be a Rimac Nevera with a different body. Still, Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti Rimac was very clear about what he wanted the new Bugatti to be, a car that’s all about heritage, craftsmanship, quality, and performance, but more aristocratic, it’s about staying in the analog world when you think about a Bugatti.
So just taking the Rimac Nevera and bolting the famous horseshoe grill on the front was a big no-no for Mate, the next option would be to just go for a Chiron hybrid, but that idea was dismissed quickly by Mate Rimac too, the resulting car would be way too heavy to be a hypercar customers were expecting from Bugatti, so the only option was to start from scratch and create a completely new car, a car that would be worthy of taking on the 115-year-old legacy into the future … the Bugatti Tourbillon.
Design and Aesthetics
If you take a look at the new Bugatti Tourbillon you might mistake it for a more aggressive version of the Bugatti Chiron, but upon closer look, you’ll notice so many differences, you are really looking at a brand new car, that is still unmistakenly a Bugatti, from the front, from the side, and from the rear, everything shouts out ‘Bugatti’, while it’s still all-new.
My personal favorite ‘novelty’ on the Tourbillon are the doors, I just love these are dihedral and electrically operated, never before seen on a Bugatti, and they remind me of the doors on the McLaren F1, and that is still an icon today, so you can’t go wrong with that similarity, but everything on the exterior shows aggression, from the narrow headlights floating over some massive air intakes, to the full-width taillight that boast integrated Bugatti script in the center while retaining large vents above a massive lower diffuser.
And as we’ve become accustomed to by now, the V16 engine can be admired as there is no cover over it, and because the rear diffuser is so large, there is no need for a rear wing to create downforce at high speed … but wait, there is an adjustable rear wing on the Bugatti Tourbillon, what else would you expect, but it’s used as an air brake under hard deceleration … how cool is that?
“It would be easy to say, OK, let’s make a statement that it’s a new company, it’s new management, it’s a new powertrain, so let’s really make something wacky. And actually, we had some proposals like that, but it felt wrong. We think long-term. This is a brand that’s existed for 114 years and we want to exist for another 100-plus,” Mate explains. “It’s so precious to have these Bugatti design elements that you recognize from afar – the horseshoe, the center line, the two-tone paint – It would be such a shame to throw it away.”
We might be able to admire the new Bugatti Tourbillon on these countless images already, but actual road testing of this new model has just begun, and don’t expect to see any customer cars being delivered before 2026, so another two years from now, but the specifications have been set for this new masterpiece, as already mentioned, we should be seeing 1,000 hp from the engine and an additional 800 hp from the electric motors, making the Tourbillon a 4WD model with a 60 km EV-only range … that should keep the neighbors happy I guess.
A Possible Top Speed of 300 MPH
The Bugatti Tourbillon should be capable of reaching 300 mph with all that power, but it will be limited to ‘just’ 277 mph or 445 km/h, and get this, the Tourbillon will reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in less than two seconds, 0 to 124 mph (200 km/h) shouldn’t take 5 seconds while 186 mph (300 km/h) from a standstill will be reached in under 10 seconds … Andy Wallace, Bugatti test driver, states the Tourbillon can reach 250 mph in about 25 seconds!
Tourbillon: A Fitting Namesake For The Interior
While the Bugatti Tourbillon looks impressive on the outside, wait until you open those amazing doors and take a look at the interior, one glance at the dashboard in front of the driver and you immediately understand where the name ‘Tourbillon’ came from … from skeleton watches where you can see the mechanism that turns the dials … the Bugatti dashboard boasts the same design idea … you are looking at oversized watches almost.
Central Console and Dashboard
There is a skeletonized set of dials in front of the driver, the needle on the speedometer goes up to 550 km/h while the integrated rev counter can show up to 10,000 rpm in the same dial, to the right of the center dial you get a power output meter showing both the ICE power output and the electric motor output, while on the left you get analog dials for battery, oil temperature and remaining fuel … make no mistakes, at nearly 300 mph that tank of fuel won’t last long.
And that ‘see-through’ feeling continues on the central console, which is a machined crystal glass unit that houses a few knobs, also note the seat adjustment knob on the door panel is also a skeleton style, very nice attention to detail, to start the V16 engine you have to pull a lever on the dashboard, not just some boring push ‘start/stop’ button, nice one Bugatti.
Did you notice there is no screen shown on most of the interior photos? That’s because it’s hidden from view when not in use, but with the push of a button it rises from the top of the dashboard in a portrait position, only to settle in a landscape orientation to be used, Bugatti really wanted to keep a classic look in the new Tourbillon, and if you ask me, they succeeded perfectly.
The interior of the Bugatti Tourbillon oozes class and exclusive materials, crystal, leather, and aluminum, it all conveys an air of luxury to make you forget you’ve signed an order form for a €3,800,000 hypercar, before taxes, but there is another detail to sweeten the deal … Bugatti intends to build just 250 units of the Tourbillon coupe, a little over one per week as production will be around 80 units per year, for now any derivatives will only be revealed at the end of this decade, imagine a Tourbillon Super Sport for instance.
Brakes and Suspension
Mate Rimac resisted the urge to create everything in-house when developing the new Bugatti Tourbillon, the engine comes from renowned Cosworth, the brakes are from Brembo, the magnificent instruments come from Concepto, the suspension is made by Divergent 3D, while naturally the electronics are derived from Rimac Technology.
“The key is we worked super closely together – the designers, the engineers and myself – from the beginning on every detail,” says Mate. “Because if you come to this stage and say, ‘I don’t like something, it’s impossible to change’, you throw the timing and money out of the window. We executed on the initial idea, and managed to get it exactly the way it was envisioned in the beginning.”
Bugatti Tourbillon Photo Gallery
