Now that the W16 is dead, Bugatti's looking to the future.
Last week Bugatti unveiled the W16 Mistral, which will target open-top seed records and be the last Bugatti to use the famous quad-turbo W16 engine, which has been used in every iteration of the Veyron and the Chiron and their various spin-offs.
The next all-new Bugatti product will be released in 2027, and it will use a hybrid powertrain. The ICE component will be smaller than the current W16, and we now know it'll utilize an all-new chassis. Bugatti's design director, Achim Anscheidt, told Autocar this is because of the smaller powertrain. But it will also open up the brand's design possibilities.
"There are opportunities to get just a bit more athletic for the shape of Bugatti in the future without losing the general gesture of generosity or sovereignty," said Anscheidt.
Anscheidt also stated that the car would look different from current Bugattis, even though it would retain the brand's emphasis on aerodynamics.
"It will also have its constraints because of performance and performance needs. But we know every centimeter of our cars so well by now that we know exactly where [change] would help us and where it would create a problem."
The French manufacturer arguably knows more about aerodynamic design than most. The Veyron was stuck in development hell for years while the engineers were trying to figure out how to make a 254 mph car stick to the road without taking off. So after nearly 20 years of building 250 mph plus cars, Bugatti knows where it can be changed and where the design needs to be left alone.
At this stage, not much is known about the car except that it will have a hybrid engine and that the design will be smaller. But the engine still needs to be exclusive, so the brand could still pursue a larger format motor like a V12, or maybe even a W12 with some similarity to the one corporate cousin Bentley is now eschewing.
This puts Bugatti in the crosshairs of several hybrid hypercars like the Ferrari SF90 and Aston Martin Valkyrie. The latter is a particularly interesting rival because it has something in common with the upcoming Bugatti. Aston Martin opted for a Rimac-designed electric system, and in case you've been living under a rock for the past year, you'll know that Bugatti and Rimac joined forces to form Bugatti Rimac LLC.
For now, the two companies still operate separately, but in the future, their products will be more closely aligned. Bugatti continues to dominate the ICE sector, while Rimac reigns supreme in the EV segment. Combine those two forces, and you end up with something that will arguably be untouchable.
When asked about the comparison with existing hybrid hypercars, Bugatti's deputy design director, Frank Heyl, is quite blunt and to the point. "If it were to be comparable, it would no longer be Bugatti," echoing a core tenet of company founder Ettore Bugatti.
Heyl added that the new car would be amazing and that Bugatti fans simply needed to trust the brand. "It's going to be amazing, proportionally, technologically, in terms of innovation, in terms of unexpectedness. It's going to blow people out of the water completely, and it's a true joy to work on this."
Thanks to a recent video released by YouTube star and former F1 Champion Nico Rosberg, we also know that Mate Rimac recently took delivery of a Chiron. The two companies are moving closer together, and the culmination of this partnership will be the unnamed hypercar scheduled to arrive in 2027.
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