With the Mistral and Bolide, Bugatti is formally bidding adieu to the 8.0-liter W16 engine. The quad-turbo powerhouse could have been greater than 20 years previous in 2024 when the peeps from Molsheim will ship the ultimate models of the roadster and track-only machine. What comes subsequent? Somewhat than slapping the EB brand on a Nevera and calling it a day, the newly based Bugatti Rimac firm is growing a hypercar from the bottom up.
Auto Categorical sat down and had a chat with Mate Rimac about what comes after the Chiron. Surprisingly, Rimac – which is thought for its cutting-edge EV expertise – began growing a combustion engine two years earlier than merging with Bugatti. Touted as being a “hypercar rearranged as a hybrid,” the subsequent masterpiece could have a “completely bonkers” ICE, and the corporate’s boss says we’ll all be “blown away” as soon as the wraps will come off subsequent 12 months.
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The 34-year-old Croatian innovator and businessman identified Bugatti’s subsequent mannequin could have no connections with current fashions: “It is utterly new, so there may be not one half carried over from any automobile; nothing carried over from Chiron, nothing carried over from Nevera. Every little thing is from scratch.” Shockingly, Bugatti’s unique plan was to interchange the W16 hypercar with a Ferrari Purosangue-like SUV however electrical.
The variations between the subsequent Bugatti and Nevera will prolong past the powertrain, Mate Rimac explains:
“The Bugatti factor is extra flip as much as the opera after which drive 400 km/h (249 mph) on the Autobahn. It will likely be extra stunning, analog devices, type of watch-making stuff. With Rimac, we would like it to be completely insane, bonkers, full-electric – drifting at 60 km/h (37 mph) with a big cloud of smoke behind you, autonomous drift modes, futuristic stuff.”
Earlier than the tie-up with Rimac, Bugatti was in a little bit of a predicament as dad or mum firm Volkswagen Group even thought-about discontinuing the fabled French model altogether or discovering it a brand new proprietor: “VW had a number of choices, together with kill the model or promote it to another person.”
Mate Rimac explains that after a choice was made for the 2 corporations to merge, he instantly aborted the preliminary plan to launch an SUV, deciding as a substitute to work on a hybrid hypercar. It’s going to be revealed subsequent 12 months, however with the Mistral and Bolide deliveries programmed for 2024, chances are high the subsequent Bugatti will not hit the streets till round 2025.
