CNN
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Bugatti has unveiled its new model, the Bugatti Tourbillon, an extremely powerful hybrid car with an equally impressive price. The car will replace the $3.3 million, 1,500-horsepower Bugatti Chiron.
You might have expected Bugatti’s new model to be all-electric. Not only is the industry heading in this direction, but in 2021 Bugatti separated from the Volkswagen Group and merged with Rimacthe Croatian company that makes the all-electric Rimac Nevera supercar.
But Matti Rimac, CEO of the new company, now called Bugatti Rimac, said he had no intention of making a fully electric Bugatti. With gasoline-powered cars gradually disappearing from the world’s roads, Bugatti Rimac’s engineers and designers wanted to create something that retained the spirit of mechanically powered Bugatti cars, but even better: an extremely powerful hybrid car.
Like the Bugatti Chiron and Veyron models before it, the new Bugatti Tourbillon will feature a massive 16-cylinder petrol engine. The engine, which was designed in collaboration with British racing car engineering company Cosworth, will be equipped with three powerful electric motors. One motor in the back of the car and two more in the front will be able to produce at least 800 horsepower on their own. In total, the Bugatti Tourbillon will be able to produce at least 1,800 horsepower, according to Bugatti Rimac..
The electric motors will help make up for the lack of turbochargers in the new gas engine. The Chiron’s gas engine had four turbochargers that forced air into the engine to help it produce more power. Matty Rimac said they want this new engine to be “naturally aspirated,” meaning there will be no turbochargers.
“We wanted to make the most exciting, most emotional, high-revving, naturally aspirated combustion engine possible,” Rimac said.
The interior of the car is also a tribute to the old machines. The tourbillon is named after the set of gears that help maintain accuracy in a mechanical watch. Bugatti’s instrument display is modeled on the dials of a mechanical watch.
“One of the first things we did when the new company was formed was we took the whole team to Switzerland and visited a few watchmakers,” Rimac told CNN.
The central speedometer display has two needles like the hands of a clock. The long hand shows the vehicle speed while the short hand records the rpm of the high-revving 16-cylinder engine.
With a fully charged battery, the car will be able to travel approximately 37 miles on pure electric power before the gasoline engine needs to be started, but the driver will have the option of running the gas engine continuously, if desired.
Unlike previous Bugattis, the Tourbillon has a reasonably large display screen with Apple CarPlay available. However, the screen will only appear and become visible when requested by the driver. In general, Bugatti designers avoided putting displays in cars in the belief that computer screens quickly become outdated.
“We really think about what this product will look like in 50 years or 100 years,” Rimac said. “And obviously if you have a screen, it’s not going to look great.”
The cars will be assembled one by one at Bugatti’s small factory in Molsheim, France. Mattei Rimac said that a total of only 250 tourbillons will be manufactured, with a starting price of about $4 million each.
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